Thunder Flowers
by thehemingwaydilemma
Summary: From the day they get accepted to Beacon to beyond where we last saw them in Forever Fall Part 2, The Good Ship Renora has sailed straight and true. Childhood friends Ren and Nora adjust to life at Beacon, share adventures, and come to terms with sharing a room together (but not "together-together"... or are they?). Slightly Canon with the appropriate plot deviations
1. Chapter 1: Acceptance

**Chapter 1: Acceptance**

"REN! REN! RENRENRENRENREN REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"

The shouts of happiness echoed through the halls of Chancel Academy as Nora Valkyrie stormed through the halls, a boundless ball of energy clad in pink. Her face one huge smile, her arm waving an envelope in the air, she ran faster than the speed of sanity towards the locker of her longtime best friend – and, as everyone in the school but he knew, love interest – Lie Ren. As she skidded to a halt outside his locker, she couldn't help but smile at his stoic glance at her, not sure what to expect but trying to stay calm, cool, and collected.

A wry smile tugged across his mouth, pink eyes slanted in curiosity. "What is it now Nora?"

"Well, there I was, in my math class, which is, you know, really REALLY boring, so I was about to go to sleep when the mail student came by because well, it IS Thursday, and that's when we can get any mail from family or friends or pretty much anyone else that wants to talk to us, and so I got a letter and I was thinking 'Huh, I haven't gotten one of these in a while, I wonder who it's from', and I didn't have my letter opener with me, so I had to improvise with a pencil and - "

"Nora?"

"Yes Ren?"

"Just tell me."

That's what she liked about Ren. A lot of people told Nora to just be quiet or to stop talking, while Ren knew she went on and on because she was excited and had to get it all out. It had taken a while, but Nora knew Ren still thought the world of her and put up with her antics. But he wasn't superhuman; even the reserved lotus boy needed a break from the Nora-rants once in a while. Plus, the story's punchline was too good to lead up to.

She shoved the letter inches away from his nose, beaming happily. "I got accepted to my dream school, Beacon Academy!" She screamed happily, dancing around like the little kid she was, not caring about the eyes on her. Even her schoolmates who had known her for four years still weren't used to the hyperactive Valkyrie girl.

Ren said nothing. He merely nodded, giving his usual blank glazed look.

Nora put her hands on her hips, pouting playfully. "Oh Ren, is that it? No 'Congrats Nora' or 'I'm so happy for you?' I don't even get a hug?" She gasped suddenly. "OMIGOSH, today was Acceptance Day! No wonder all the seniors in my class got a letter too! You must have gotten one too! Or maybe you got more than one, you are a perfect student and all! Oh no, oh no, please say you got into Beacon, it wouldn't be the same if we weren't together1 But not together-together, not saying you aren't-"

This time Ren got her attention by silently pulling out his own acceptance letter from inside his jacket, stamped with the same coat of arms Nora's was.

Nor squealed, throwing her arms around Ren's neck, ignoring his awkward expression and initial rebuffs. "I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! YOU MADE IT! WE'RE GOING TO THE SAME SCHOOL AGAIN! YAAAAAY!" At this point she started jumping up and down, bringing snickers from the small group of students who had stopped to gawk at the energetic perky girl with the tall quiet boy.

"Nora, please," Ren said, having trouble breathing in his friend's vise like grip. "Put me down."

Nora blushed, letting Ren down with an embarrassed giggle. "Sorry Ren!" she said, twisting her hair between her fingers. "I did it again didn't I? Now people are going to think we're…"

"Together-together," he finished, nodding at her.

Nora smiled up at Ren again, this time softer and with less excitement. "Well, we're going to be buddies again this year, no need to worry about not being in different schools!" Her head snapped up, a clear sign she had an idea. "Oh! We need to start getting ready! I know I can go with the scholarships I got for my stint as the star quarterback for the all-girls football league! Remember that Ren? That was fun, too bad I was kicked off the team, some girls can't take a punch, huh? So anyways, I know your parent's can cover tuition with the bazillions and oodles of money they have, so we're set in the money department, but what about housing? I wonder how the dorms are. And how do we even get there, I heard it's across the sea on a magic island or something! Wouldn't that be fun, Ren? A magical island for a school? We could ride magic bears and sleep on magic beds, and you could make me magic pancakes…"

Nora didn't even notice it, but she and Ren were already walking down the hallways, heading outside and slowly making their way to their houses, side by side, Nora chatting away, Ren smiling and nodding along.

That night, the two families had a Beacon Academy party for the two young students. Mrs. Lie brought over her famous lotus flower cordials for the occasion, apologizing for Ren's father's absence. He was on business as usual, taking a very important trip to oversee one of the main branches of his publishing company. Mrs. Valkyrie made Nora's favorite chocolate cake with pink frosting, including both the families' symbols in the decorating. Everyone congratulated the two on their achievements this year, shared stories of the two growing up together, and shared what they knew of the legendary Beacon Academy. Mr. Valkyrie had graduated with high honors and a spot as one of the most revered hunters in Vale, before settling down with his old team mate, Mrs. Valkyrie, and starting a family. Mrs. Lie was a student for a while, and met her husband, Lie Xong, during initiation, staying partners until they decided to pursue other dreams of writing and family starting.

Nora smiled through all the stories, occasionally stealing a glance or two at Ren, who occupied himself with the sliver of cake that he managed to save from his pink-loving friend's appetite. Nora was definably glad to have Ren as a friend; and maybe their parent's stories of finding love fighting side by side were how she and Ren would end up.

The night progressed, and both families bid farewell before turning in for a good night's sleep. Both homes were wedged together along the street, cozy and comforting.

Even so, Nora couldn't sleep. She'd known Ren ever since they were kids in preschool, her running around with the other boys, pulling Ren into the fray when he first came to the school. They had bonded over the years, bouncing off each other and becoming connected through the little things: Ren helped Nora see that academics were just as important as fighting, Nora helped Ren deal with his problems instead of hiding them; even the pink streak in Ren's hair was Nora's fault. They had won contests, gotten in trouble, made discoveries, laughed, cried – all together.

_But that could change,_ Nora thought as she slid her window up. _Secondary school was one thing, but Beacon Academy is so much different and bigger, and we could change so much and not be friends anymore…_ Nora slid out her window, shivering in the late night chill as she ritualistically hopped to the ground, trying not to think about the stories she heard from her older cousins, and how they didn't see their old friends as much even on campus. Lifting the flower pot next to the fence, she picked up the key to the Lie household and scaled the fence, making sure not to make noise.

We may never see each other past graduation, Nora thought miserably, trying not to cry. She almost didn't make the jump to Ren's window, catching herself only by the rain gutter. What if we don't get to be on the same team, or what if we make different friends, or what if he falls in love and –

Stop it. Stop overthinking this, Nora thought to herself, slipping into Ren's room with well-practiced ease. That's Ren's job, and he can handle it for both of us. The thought made Nora smile. And it should stay his job, Nora mused, creeping up to her best friend's bed.

"Ren," she whispered, or at least tried to whisper. Ren didn't move. He was likely already asleep, or too tired to respond.

"Ren!"

"Mm." Good, he's at least a little awake, Nora thought, already excited and nervous at the same time.

"Are you awake?"

A pause. And then, "Nope." If you knew Ren well enough, you could almost hear the smile on his voice.

Nora laughed a little to herself, mostly at the fact that she was still the only one Ren could feel comfortable enough around to make a joke. "I can't sleep… again."

Ren didn't respond for a moment. Then, with a faint rustle, the blankets shifted open so there was room for the orange haired girl to climb into bed. As usual, he scooted over to the far left side of the bed, almost against the wall, for the girl to have room to sleep by herself. And as usual, Nora completely ignored that space and went for what she wanted.

Crashing gracefully (a feat not everyone can pull off) into the mattress, with Ren letting out an "Oomph" at the impact, Nora snuggled in close to the lean, muscular boy, her arms laced around his neck and her head in the crook of his shoulder. She felt him tense up, then slowly relax and drape his arms around her torso, giving her a light squeeze.

Nora, slowly calming down, turned him around ever so slightly so she was resting on top of him, moving with the rise and fall of his stomach, his heart beating next to hers. She snuggled in closer, feeling comforted in his arms and less afraid of what lay ahead. The Valkyrie girl had been coming to him for help sleeping ever since kindergarten and little had changed since. She wasn't sure if either of their parents knew, and if they did (which was likely the case) neither of them seemed to mind. When she didn't want the Grimm to come get her in kindergarten, she pulled her blanket over to his, laying down next to him for those scary ten minutes. When she was still afraid of the dark, eight year old Nora would spend the night every chance she could, just to lay next to him in bed. And when she turned twelve and her parents would fight about how their marriage was falling apart, she'd sneak over to Ren's house and huddle under the covers with him until they had worked out their differences and became a happy couple again.

Now, here she was, seventeen years old. She wasn't afraid of the dark, her parents were happy, and she wasn't worried about the Grimm. Neither one talked about Nora's sneaking over to his house; it had just become a natural thing. Ren just thought Nora had grown too big for sleeping with her parent's, or wanted to be kept warm, or felt good sleeping with someone to soothe her.

Nora leaned up. "Ren?"

"Hmm?"

Nora had so much she wanted to say. That she had had a small crush on him in first grade and secretly wished he had one on her too. That in sixth grade the reason she stopped hanging around those other pink loving girls wasn't because they were mean to her, but because they made fun of Ren. That she fell in love with her pink-eye boy in freshman year at Chancel and turned down every boy who asked her out. That the reason she kept coming to sleep with him was because she desperately wanted to learn if he had the same feeling for her.

"We're never going to stop being together, are we Ren?" Nora asked sweetly.

Ren took a breath to speak, but Nora interrupted him – again. "But not together-together, of course. Not saying you aren't handsome, because you are handsome, it's just – "

"Nora?"

"Yes Ren?"

"Go to sleep."

This time, Nora listened. She scooted a little lower, resting her head on his heart, her arms around his chest. Intertwining their legs for good measure, Nora slowed her breathing and felt her eyes getting heavy.

There was no way she was letting this boy run away.


	2. Chapter 2: Arrival

**Chapter 2: Arrival**

"I can't believe we're actually on our way to Beacon, Ren! It feels like just yesterday we graduated from Chancel and here we are, on this giant ship, flying through the sky! Ooooh, look at those clouds, that one looks like a bottle of syrup! And that looks like a little Ursa! And that one looks like a – wait, that's a helicopter. But isn't this fun Ren! We're gonna be hunters! I'm gonna be the best huntress ever, I just hope we make it past initiation…"

Ren was busy polishing Stormflower, listening to Nora chatter on and on about how excited she was to be going to their new school. To the casual observer, Ren was tuning out the hyperactive girl who would not shut up. Everyone might have thought Ren was sick and tired of his chatter-box companion, due to his somber expression and uninterested gaze.

But Ren was following everything Nora was telling him, and he actually didn't mind the fact Nora would talk endlessly to him. Granted, she could get under his skin at times, but he was immensely fond of the hammer-toting brawler, in a way only he could describe. He was raised to be a serious, mellow, collected individual, thanks to his families strict heritage and views of honor, respect, and so on and so forth. Nora helped him not be so uptight, and over the years he had been able to remain the "quiet one" and yet not be bothered by trivial matters like a mouth that ran like a river.

"What do you think Ren?" Nora peered inquisitively at the boy, blue eyes wide with waiting.

Ren returned the gaze. "No Nora, I'm positive the pilot won't give you a tour of the cockpit."

Nora pouted slightly. "But who's going to steer the ship to safety if a Nevermore attacks us? Certainly won't be him," she said, jabbing a thumb at a blonde boy holding his stomach. "And I've driven Dad's car before, it can't be that different! You know how good I can drive, don't you Ren?"

Ren smiled. "The last time you drove was out of the parking lot before panicking and nearly hitting a tree."

Nora's smile only widened. "See? Nearly hit the tree! I was able to avoid it, even if I was panicking at the time! Think how much better I would be if I was in control!" Nora resigned herself to smiling smugly, eyes closed and arms folded across her chest.

Ren leaned his back against the wall, satisfied to look out the window as the world flew by. A lot had happened in the last few months. Graduation, summer break, the hype of leaving for a new school – he remembered how even packing just to come here had been a pain. Well, correction, how much a pain _Nora_ had been about packing.

That brought a smile to Ren's face. Nora seemed to be permanently attached to everything about him. _Every adventure started with Nora and I, every time I got in trouble it was for helping Nora, this pink streak in my hair was all thanks to Nora…_ he didn't say it enough, but he wouldn't be happy if it wasn't for Nora coming into his life and shaking it up, messing around, and turning everything about his refined, solemn world upside down.

A hologram appeared on the screen across the room from the two, interrupting a news broadcast of the White Fang. Nora dashed over to the crowd of students to hear the message, Ren following suit. It was a blonde woman, with a purple cape and formal attire, black glasses framing bright green eyes.

"Hello, and welcome to beacon," the lady said. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." With that, Mrs. Goodwitch faded from the screen, leaving the students to talk among themselves.

"Can you believe it, Ren?! We're going to uphold the peace and learn all about protecting the world and stuff and we're gonna learn sooooo much, can you believe it?" Nora sighed, happily slumping into Ren as the two leaned against a wall. "We're going to be the best hunter and huntress in all of Vale, right Ren?"

Ren wasn't really sure how to respond. The trip itself already had brought snickers and the usual questions if they were a couple, and he wasn't really used to Nora being so affectionate. She only really started hugging and grabbing him in public in the second half of their time at Chancel, and that brought even more unnecessary stares and rumors. He didn't want to have to deal with that again at a whole new institution.

"Aren't we, Ren?" Nora peeped up at him with her big blue eyes, her small little mouth turned up in a smile.

Ren sighed. Now she was squeezing him around the waist, her chin resting on his chest. This definitely didn't enforce the "just friends" attitude he desperately wanted to maintain. But who was he going to kid? Nora was his best friend, and wasn't going to ignore her.

"Yes, Nora," Ren said, returning his somber expression to the window. "We're going to be the best there is."

**Fast Forward: Night Time**

"Ms. Valkyrie, just where do you think you're going?" Glynda Goodwich said, arching an eyebrow at the orange haired girl.

Ren looked up from the book he was reading, as did the few student who were setting up their sleeping things. Nora was about to hop over the dividing rope between the boys section and girls section of the sleeping quarters, but was now frozen as she was caught in the act. While the faculty trusted the students not to get into any compromising situations, incidents the previous years rendered co-ed sleeping arrangements a privilege earned, not something for any first day students to abuse.

Nora, helplessly caught, pulled her most innocent face. "I was uh… going to get a glass of water?"

Glynda frowned. "While I would normally direct you toward the fountain on your side of the room, I would like to take this moment to also ask you this: Is a sleeping mat, blanket, and pillow the new fashion for getting drinks these days, or are you planning on camping by the bubbler all night?"

A snicker or three rose from the students who tuned into the conversation. Nora blushed, the deep shade of red contrasting the blue eyes that darted to the floor, fighting for an explanation. "Well, Ma'am, Ms. Goodwitch, I wasn't trying to break any rules, I just needed to –"

"Ms. Valkyrie, I'd like to stop you there." Ms. Goodwitch adjusted her glasses, eyes fixed sternly on Nora. "While we encourage healthy relationships among our students and am glad if you've made new friends of the male variety, we do ask you to hold off on getting too intimate too fast, especially on the first day. You wouldn't want to fight a Boarbatusk with morning sickness, now would you?"

The snickers turned to outright laughter, and the blush on Nora's face deepened to a rich scarlet. Ren felt terrible for his childhood friend, but didn't want to say anything, else the student body had any confirmations that she did have someone she wanted to… well, as Nora described it, "frick-frack" with. He was only glad it was only a dozen or students who had decided to set camp up early – most of the student body were still eating, hanging out with friends, or showering. Even so, Nora was sure to feel awfully embarrassed by this ordeal. He'd have to talk to her later and make sure she was alright.

As Ms. Goodwitch turned to go, however, Professor Ozpin strode in, his ever-present mug of coffee in his hands. Ren felt another pang of regret – he respected the headmaster after his heartfelt speech at orientation, and didn't want Nora to be on his bad side.

The green-clad man sipped his coffee, nodding toward Goodwitch. Nora had retreated behind the line, back to the girl's side of the room, waiting her doom. "Evening, Glynda," Ozpin said casually, taking another long sip from his mug. "I heard a commotion and thought Professor Port was entertaining with one of his stories again." He glanced around the room. "Did I miss it?"

Glynda sighed. "No, Headmaster, I merely caught young Ms. Valkyrie here," at this point gesturing at Nora with her wand, "wandering into the boy's section, sleeping gear in tow."

"I see," Ozpin replied, sipping some more of his – _did this man ever stop drinking his coffee?_ Ren could help thinking. Nora looked up at Ozpin, who had turned to look at her. Students had leaned in from both sides of the line, waiting to hear Ozpin's punishment for the offending girl.

Unexpectedly, Ozpin spoke to Glynda Goodwitch. "You know I handpicked these students myself, Ms. Goodwitch?"

Glynda looked confused. "Yes, of course you –"

"And you know I trust them _all_ –" here he addressed the auditorium of late teenagers to behave themselves and rest up for tomorrow's initiation." The students nodded, backing up what their headmaster had said. Ozpin eyed Nora warmly. "I'm sure we all just want to be near our old friends, isn't that right Ms. Nora?" Nora nodded happily, and Ren noticed the headmaster glance in his direction and smile knowingly.

Ozpin gestured to the rope with his cane. "Take it down; someone might trip on the way to the lavatory. These are my soon to be start pupils, not preschoolers Ms. Goodwitch."

Glynda Goodwitch, obviously put in her place, looked at the few students that were still listening in. Uncharacteristically huffing, she yanked the rope from the two poles they were tied to. With a final glare at the students, she pointed at the ceiling. "There are _surveillance_ cameras, if you don't mind me saying," she scolded, stalking out of the room.

No one said anything for a good few minutes. Eventually, a few students apologized to a very relieved Nora before moving their bags to sleep next to siblings, cousins, or group of friends. Nora was all to relieved to pull her mat next to Ren; the people around them smiled, but nodded understandingly when Nora said she felt weird being alone with no one she knew nearby.

As the lights turned off and a fight between four girls in the corner was settled, Ren silently thanked Professor Ozpin for handling everything so well. It looked like he wouldn't have to worry about any rumors circulating –

Ren started a little as Nora scooted over next to him, clutching his arm affectionately. Her face nuzzled into Ren's bicep, he heard her whisper "Good Night," and felt her smile into his arm.

Ren sighed, tired already. He did, however, use his other arm to give one of Nora's hands a squeeze. "Good Night, Nora," he replied, feeling her smile grow wider. Ren was never sure why Nora needed to sleep next to him, but to be honest he wouldn't have it any other way. Nora had helped him become happier in his view on life, become a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, and opened him up to trying new things and going new places; if returning the favor meant letting her cuddle up next to him at night, or drawing attention to their strictly platonic relationship, he was more than willing to oblige.

After all, who wouldn't want attention from the object of their affections?


	3. Chapter 3: Into the Forest

**Chapter 3: Into the Forest**

"Nora?"

"Yes Ren?"

The duo had spent the last thirty minutes getting ready, packing up their sleeping gear, and eating breakfast. All of which consisted of Nora excitedly gushing about how exciting it was to finally be at beacon. She couldn't help it; she and her best friend were at the school they fought for a place at, and they had completed twenty-four hours on the campus. Ren had finally interrupted Nora as she was asking him about his sloth impersonating skills.

Ren, calm as always, flicked his wrists and hid Stormflower into his baggy sleeves (a move that both amazed and excited Nora, I mean how did they even fit in there?) and replied "I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

_That is true_, Nora thought, hesitating for once. But immediately she found out how that would work to their advantage. "That's why it's PERFECT! No one will suspect we're working together!" She had heard the rumor of teams being formed, and was excited at the prospect of working with Ren to take down monsters as a team. It was just a matter of making sure the two ended up together.

"Come on Nora, let's go," Ren said, motioning to the door.

"But not _together-together_," Nora said, adding her usual amendment if the word "together" made its way into her description of her and Ren. Ren never seemed to take notice of it, but Nora definitely didn't want him to think she thought about him as much as she did. The two made their way out of the locker room, Ren striding confidently, Nora half walking half skipping next to him.

After a few minutes of silence, Nora filled the void with another conversation. "You remember the sloths from the zoo, right? Back at our old elementary school, that one day we had to go and visit the animals? I'm so glad they didn't have any Grimm, I remember teacher told us we needed to remember there was a difference between the Grimm and just normal animals, you know? But that's just silly, I mean, we see birds all the time and they aren't anything like Nevermores, and then there's your cat Monty, but he does get crazy sometimes, so he can't _really_ be trusted not to attack anyone, can he? But Coco can, she's never been a bad dog and my dad doesn't seem to have a problem with her. I hope she answers the letter I sent her, I worked real hard on it and I'm not sure if there's a place to get more postage around here."

"Wait, wait," Ren said, stopping the conversation. "You sent a letter to your dog?"

"Of course!" Nora said happily. "She needs to know I still care about her, and that I'm being safe at Beacon, and that we're going to have a lot of fun and –"

"You know Coco can't read, right Nora?"

_Oh Ren,_ Nora smiled to herself. _Use your imagination, I_ always _have a solution!_ "Well, not the way we read, I mean, she _is_ a dog. They communicate using smells and such, so I wrote the words using my perfume! That way she'd be able to smell the words instead of having to just read them, I've been working on this kind of stuff over the summer, so she should be pretty good at reading by now. Just to be sure, I also concentrated really really hard on what I was thinking so in case I'm psychic my thoughts would transfer over to the paper as well!"

Nora smiled, proud of her great idea at communicating with her dog. She didn't tell Ren she also included a copy of the same letter in normal ink so her mother could read it to Coco if her magnificent plan didn't work.

Nora decided to give the chatter a rest and instead happily walk next to her tall friend, content to enjoy his presence. She did love to talk, but she felt Ren deserved a bit of quiet. He didn't always wake up as early as she did, even if she did give him an easier time last night – she blushed, realizing the implications. _No, no, not like that!_ she found herself thinking, _I mean, like I wasn't hugging him so hard or laying on him, I don't want _that_ kind of stuff! I mean, we're friends, and that's silly thinking about it like that when we should stay best friends. _

Last night she felt real embarrassment with how mean Glynda was to her. It was the first time she realized just how different it was for her to want to sleep with her best friend, and how other students might think more might go on between them than just sleeping. Nora found herself shaking her fists with resentment. _Ms. Goodwitch had no right to say that, and in front of everyone too! If she weren't a professor I would have -!_

"Ow!" Nora squeaked, hitting her forehead on something hard. She hadn't seen where she was going and walked into a wall at the end of the hallway. A few students giggled around her, and she felt a strong hand tug at her elbow. The usual tingles across her skin told her who it was before she looked up at him, eyes squinted from the sudden impact.

"Nora," Ren said, gesturing to the T-shaped bend in the hall, then to the path where they had to go down, "the initiation starts down this way." His rare smile graced the corners of his mouth. "The walls shouldn't be the biggest obstacle we're going to face today, don't you think?"

Nora smiled, feeling her face grow warm with embarrassment (at running to the wall and at how cute he looked when Ren said that). "Yes, Ren!" she said smartly, resuming her skip down the hall, doing her best to look as chipper as she was a moment ago. Thankfully, Ren kept on walking without a word, although he did glance at her occasionally to make sure she was alright.

Even keeping her eyes fixed forward and a half-true smile plastered on, she could occasionally see the look of concern her friend had in his eyes.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... _today_."

Nora stood next to Ren and a boy with an oddly green Mohawk, high above the Emerald Forest. Her nerves reverberated with excitement, energy, and sheer joy. _Fighting monsters! And teammates!_ She was going to have such a great time, and she didn't care that the grumpy old Ms. Goodwitch was the one giving instructions.

"These teammates," said Professor Ozpin, "will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Nora bounced a little as she heard this. _Ren and I can be together for our entire time here! We_ have _to be on the same team now!_

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"See? I told you - !" Before Nora could continue to explain to Ren how they absolutely needed to find each other and how her sloth calls were more important than he made them out to be, Ozpin continued.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you will die."

The silly blonde boy who was air-sick the day before gulped, laughing nervously to himself. Nora, however, gave Ren her most adorable open mouthed smile, her way of saying "Won't this be fun?" to counter his slightly downcast expression. _Ren is such a good warrior, what was he so worried about?_

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. Our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Blonde boy tried to ask one, but was interrupted by Ozpin, who informed all students to take their positions. Nora hunched over, Magnhild strapped to her back. Ren stood with Stormflower drawn, posed in what Nora guessed was a power stance or something. Regardless, he looked brave and quite dashing like that, his pretty pink eyes radiating confidence, his lean, muscular form –

_Not now, girl_, Nora thought to herself. _Land safely, find Ren, and then you can let your mind wander._

The boy next to her crouched and flew off his platform. _Here we go!_ Nora thought, excitedly looking at Ren._ I'm up next!_ Sure enough, the platform clicked, and with a squeal, Nora flew into the forest, the wind racing past her as she soared above an ocean of green.

* * *

><p>A pair of Ursa lay slumbing in their den, dreaming of romping with the Beowolves and destroying towns, laying waste to the humans around them; the ferocious beasts were sprawled out, their paws twitching and soft growls betraying their dreams.<p>

It has been said that a freshly woken Grimm is the worst kind to encounter. A startled Grimm has been rumored to be even worse.

No one seemed to have told the Valkyrie girl this, who swung her hammer down into the top of a tree, proceeding to slide down the trunk as it crashed to the ground. Shooting a well-aimed grenade at the base of the tree, Nora flipped into the air, landing safely on the boughs of another evergreen nearly twenty feet away.

The tree she had pulverized proceeded to crash into the Ursa den, waking – and startling – the two bear-like Grimm and sending them running manically away from their den, roars of rage bellowing from their maws. Nora let them go – she had a pink eyed boy to find, and he wasn't going to partner up with anyone but her. Not on her watch.

As for the two Ursa, she'd let someone else have fun with them. She recalled seeing a long blonde haired party girl blasting her way through the tops of the trees: she seemed like she could appreciate an Ursa or two.

Nora occupied herself with planning how to get to Ren. She remembered seeing him land shortly before she did, so he was going to be further behind her. While she raced through the trees, Nora's mind raced through the intel she gathered as she descended_. So if we got launched at the same speed, and Ren landed about twelve seconds before me, and my landing gave me further distance into the forest, then Ren would be about half a mile away from me, and if he's heading toward the direction I'm coming from, then we should met in about – _

The Valkyrie's thoughts were interrupted by a loud hiss farther ahead of her. King Taijitu! Nora thought, remembering the stories of the two headed snake beasts. Taking heed to slow down and approach carefully, she saw the black and white heads circling and lashing out, fangs snapping shut and hisses sending chills down the pink-crazed girl's arms. She saw the white head move further back, and the black head struck at lightning speed, but stopped, blocked by _a flash of pink light!_

_Ren!_ Nora wanted to scream his name, but held back. While she deeply cared about Ren and wanted to jump down there and bash some snaky heads, her judgment – acquired and listened only by spending so much time with the boy in green down below – told her to wait. Any lapse in Ren's concentration could cause her best friend to die, and she couldn't have that now, could she?

The boy was using his Aura, his strongest asset, to block the fangs of the black end of the Taijitu, grunting with the excerted force he was using. With a grunt from Ren and a shriek of pain from the giant snake, Ren broke the fangs in half, chunks of enamel spraying from the snake's mouth. Not even stopping for a breath, the Huntsman dodged a pain-blinded lunge by the snake, quickly impaling the snake dead in the eye.

From her spot in the tree above, Nora watched on, filled with awe as Ren manipulated his aura to shoot thought the King Taijitu's head, blowing the skull and flesh to pieces. Nora smirked; she could have sworn the white end of the snake got three shades paler as Lie Ren turned to face it.

As Ren dashed after his next foe, Nora couldn't help but smile as the skilled fighter reclaimed his fallen Stormflower, whirling around and slashing at the exposed neck tissue as the white half struck out. Part of her liked having a friend that was different than her in almost every way; she had gotten used to loud, energetic, and reckless people thanks to her family, and didn't like to slow down or think things out before a battle. Ren, on the other hand, was quiet, peaceful, and always seemed to know exactly what he was doing. But his quiet, almost perpetual silent nature didn't mean he wasn't prone to good humor and conversation. He just tired of it quicker and preferred to listen and gather information about people before voicing his thoughts.

_He certainly isn't tired of this, Nora mused_, watching Ren soar over the snake's twisting mass of scales and throw one of his pistols into the tender belly above him, the blade end embedded up to the "hilt". Hissing in pain, the snake feebly shot out at its assailant, only to be slashed across the muzzle with Ren's remaining gun/blade. Falling back in pain and exhaustion, the snake landed on its side, allowing for an Aura fueled kick from Ren to break the snake's jawbone. A sickening crunch and the light escaping from the snake's red eyes told both it's attacker and the sole audience member that the shattered bone had gone up into the remaining half's brain, officially killing the beast.

As Ren characteristically dusted himself off, sheathing his weapons simultaneously, Nora used this time to introduce herself into the picture. "Krrrrah! Kraaah!" she called out, smiling as Ren looked around at this new noise. With a giggle, Nora swung so she was hanging upside down in the tree, a playful look on her face, arms hanging down like a sloth.

Ren chuckled. "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like" was all he said before the smile left and was replaced by the default serious-yet-not-unhappy face he typically wore.

Nora smiled back. This might have been why they were such good pals and teammates. Like the King Tajitu, they were perfect contrasts of each other, at different ends of the spectrum. Yet they were connected by fate and, as such, used their differences to help each other do things the other couldn't, and would always come out on top. Unlike the King Tajitu, however, they had souls, and were out to save the world, not destroy it.

And now they could do it as official partners for all four years. To celebrate, Nora leaned over and affectionately flipped Ren's nose.

"Boop," she quipped, smile widening as Ren leaned back. She couldn't help but blush as he smiled back at her, eyes beaming.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Thank you to all the readersreviewers these past few days! It has been amazing getting so much awesome feedback from you guys, I can't believe the story is so well received this far in. I'm going to continue with the canon aspect of the series, imputing my own viewpoints and basically focusing on Ren and Nora and what happens to them while everyone else is off doing their own thing. This should go one for about 3 more chapters or so, and then the real fun begins :D**

**Thanks for all your support!**


	4. Chapter 4: Teams and Answers

**Author's Note: Hey Readers! Thank you so much for the views, comments, and overal positive feedback! As of right now, "Thunder Flowers" has a whopping 794 views, 21 followers, 17 favorites, and 10 reviews! For being released only two days ago and having 3 (now 4) chapters, I'd say that's pretty good.**

**Now, the following chapter is a bit longer, as I took the liberty of following most of the canon plotline of "Players and Pieces" and adding an imporant bit around our dear narrator Ren at the end (as you followers might know, I'm switching POV between Nora and Ren for every chapter). As I needed to focus on keeping the story flowing, I ommited the battle between the Nevermore and Death Stalker, but lover's of fighting sequences, fret not! You will see those soon enough, as I will work a few into the story, one over the next two chapters (which will end off our look at where the show has run to as of yet) and a couple as I deviate into my own ideas of what happens next!**

**Thank you all for reading and inspiring me to keep on writing! I am always open to feed back, and while I have a pretty clear vision for the story I am totally open to any suggestions! Have a wonderful night and I hope you enjoy possibly my favorite chapter thus far!**

**~TheHemingwayDilemma**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 4: Teams and Answers<span>**

Well, luck was on Lie Ren's side today. The huntsman in training had been a little concerned about what would have happened if he had not been on the same team as Nora, but she had managed to find him in time. His fears, which remained hidden, had been laid to rest and he was back where he belonged - by Nora's side.

Well, that is, if he could catch up to her.

"Chop chop, lazy-bud!" Nora cheered, cartwheeling over a fallen log as she zoomed further into the forest.

Ren had used up nearly half his energy on that King Tajitu, and running was out of the question at the moment. He was going to need to save his energy in case he and Nora encountered any Grimm, which was more than likely, as the duo had a long ways to travel before they got to the abandoned temple, and even longer before they left the Emerald forest behind them.

"Ren." Nearly startled by Nora's sudden appearance at his side, Ren was even more shocked that she had been able to whisper quietly. He turned to look at her, seeing her eyes were fixed on something further away.

"Look," Nora breathed, pointing a pink-gloved-hand at an Ursa Major, who was eating berries off of a bush not four yards away. Ren drew Stormflower, ready to engage the great bear, but was stopped by Nora's hand, which, Ren couldn't help but notice, was pressed to his heart. A coincidence, but Ren felt the smallest of shivers run down his spine. "Don't attack it," Nora said cautiously. "I have a better idea."

Ren gulped. Knowing his friend's "plans", the were laced with his inevitable regret. And by the look in Nora's eyes, if you could measure regret in maple trees, he's have enough syrup to keep Nora occupied for three weeks…

* * *

><p>"Wheeeeeeeee!" Nora caterwauled as she gave the Ursa another jab with Magnhild, urging it onward into the dark, leafy realm ahead. Ren, nearly the same shade of green as his jacket, clung to one of the bear's back spikes; with each leap and bound the Ursa took, he hoped that he would never have to see another Ursa again.<p>

They were making excellent speed, however. The Ursa Major was no match for the might and fury of the tempest that was Nora (and her need to find the prettiest relic that ever was) and, as such, ran for its life, trying to avoid the blows of the hammer that hit its head, shoulders, and back if it thought slowing down was a good idea.

A scream pierced through the roars of the Ursa, and the woods were starting to clear up a little. "Hooray!" Nora exclaimed. "I can see the temple from here!"

_Hooray,_ Ren and the Ursa thought in tandem, _we're going to stop this nonsense and hopefully get some rest. _However, Ren heard the sharp clicks of Nora converting Magnhild into its grenade launcher form, and realized she planned on getting their at double the speed they were going right now.

Peering around one of the bony plates, Ren saw Nora shoot a round of canisters into the base of the Ursa's skull, causing them to lurch forward even more as the Bear charged forward in pain, crashed through the undergrowth, and fell face first into an open field – right by the abandoned temple.

"Aww," Nora said mournfully, "it's broken…"

Sliding off the back of their former steed, Ren had to support himself as he panted for breath. "Nora… please… don't ever do that again…" he said between breaths. His plea fell on deaf ears – or, more accurately, ears that had zoomed over to the pedestals of the relics along with the rest of the hyperactive girl who those ears belonged to.

Cleverly enough, the relics were set up to look like chess pieces. Another team, a fiery blonde and a mellow black-haired girl with a bow, were already there, gawking as Nora danced around with her new-found toy (a white rook piece), lost in her own imagination. _This is getting out of hand, Ren thought irately to himself. If she's going to be my partner, she can't get into any more shenanigans without at least waiting on me to be the voice of reason._ "NORA!" he yelled, effectively snapping his teammate out of her revelry. With a smile and giggle that even Ren had to admit was adorable, Nora dropped the rook from her head into her hand and skipped back to him. "Coming Ren!" she called in a sing-song voice.

As Ren jogged over to catch up with his team mate, the ground shook and _Holy Crap, is that a Death Stalker?!_ Even Ren had to stop and stare at that enormous, and rarely seen, scorpion that was on the tail of a red haired Spartan girl, who had done a good job at avoiding the beast's huge snapping claws.

Finally making it to the motley crew of fighters who were gathering at the base of the stairs, Ren stood next to Nora, still her silly laughing self. _Honestly, why I'm still her friend is beyond me. You'd think I'd have lost my cool years ago._

Another scream. This time, a girl clad in white and that blonde air-sick boy fell in a heap not far from the group, shortly followed by the Spartan, who was knocked over by the Death Stalker's claw and flew a good half a mile before flopping unceremoniously at the foot of the stairs. "Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" This came from the tall blonde girl.

Ren and the blonde's partner exchanged a wry glance. _Great, your partner too, huh?_ they seemed to say. Before the two could talk any further, the little hooded girl in red, dashed off to face the death stalker. "Ruby!" the blonde girl called out, but it was too late. The girl, Ruby, had already launched herself to the Death stalker with her scythe/sniper, only to prove useless against the tough hide.

A roar up over head signaled that a giant Nevermore was attacking, and sure enough, a flurry of razor sharp feathers shot down, cutting "Yang" off from getting to her sister, who was not trapped by a feather stuck to her cap. Everyone else could only look on, helpless and hopeless as the stinger lashed down on the girl in red… and was stuck in place by a wall of ice.

Weiss, the one who fell on Blonde Boy, had dashed over to her partner and managed to save the younger girls life Ren felt a hand grab his own, startled to see Nora wide-eyed and fearful, fixed on the close death that they almost witnessed. "Ren?" Nora asked softly, her voice cracking ever so slightly.

"Yes Nora?" he asked, concern reaching out of his friend and any anger he had for her washing away.

"I'm sorry I run into situations like that. I need to think more before I pull crazy stunts, and then I'm going to fail you as a partner, and I'll be dead and then you'll have to be partnered with someone else and that's going to hurt and now I know how you feel when I do crazy stuff and I broke our Ursa and we'll never be able to ride it again –"

Ren shook his head, stopping here there before she drew too much attention to herself, but also because he didn't want her thinking that Ursa riding would be a regular occurrence for them. "Nora, don't worry. Of course I'm going to forgive you."

Nora pulled him in for a hug, and this time he hugged her back, patting her head for good measure. _Don't enjoy it too long,_ Ren warned himself. _She'll be back to her old self soon enough, and you can't give her too much or else she'll get the wrong idea._ "Friends till the end?" Nora asked, smiling as Ren broke the hug at the four-second mark.

"Friends till the end" Ren agreed. Their moment was put aside for now as the group for eight got together and strategize. Surprisingly Jaune, the wimpy barfing blonde, took charge and warned of the Nevermore's presence and need to get in and get out. He and Ruby, the only one's who needed to grab relics for their teams, seized the last two there, the other rook and knight, respectively. Something caught Ren's eye as the Ruby proposed not fighting the beasts and getting to the cliff as soon as possible – the Death Stalker was beginning to break free of its ice trap.

"Time we left!" Ren remarked, getting everyone's attention. They too noticed the scorpion Grimm and took heed, following Ruby and Jaune up the hill. As Ren sped beside Nora, dashing through a path of stone pillars, a nagging feeling tugged at his gut as the Nevermore slowly soared in front of them.

_This isn't over,_ Ren mused darkly to himself. _It's only just begun._

* * *

><p>"Come on, please wrap faster! It's already begun!"<p>

"Ms. Valkyrie, if you'll stop chattering and reminding me of that, we'll be out in no time!"

Ren sat on the cold bench gloomily, waiting for the two ladies to quit arguing and let him sit here in peace. Glynda Goodwitch, assisting the currently overstocked Nurse Gloucester, was busy wrapping bandages around Ren's torso, doing her best while trying to avoid wrapping Nora up too. The orange haired Valkyrie was practically glued to Ren's arm, eyes squinted shut and doing her best to help the ordeal be finished.

Ren had broken a rib when the Death Stalker threw him against the wall, and had broken another when he hit the ground. He had tried to remain conscious, but only barely: he was out for the fight and only recovered shortly after Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang had taken care of the Nevermore. Jaune, who had taken lead and completely demolished the Death Stalker with Pyrrha and Nora, had excitedly told Ren that he had been the one who gave Jaune the idea of impaling the scorpion with itss own stinger, and had weakened it enough so that the poisonous barb would be easily cut. Nora was so proud of Ren for bravely leaping on the beast's tail, and for helping Pyrrha and Blake until she and Jaune could join in on the fight (Blake being pushed back to fight the Nevermore), and gushing about how sorry she was that Ren got hurt, and how she was so worried, and she would have gone on if not for an angry glare from Nurse Gloucester as she adjusted Ren's bandages.

Finally, after many grunts of pain and squeezes from Nora, the deed was done. Ren was bandaged, and Nora was free to drag him to the ceremony. Ms. Goodwitch stood up, setting aside the bandage roll that she was using and handing Ren his shirt, which the lotus boy quickly pulled on, embarrassed by this indecency and the occasional wide-eyed looks he caught from passing female patients. Goodwitch eyed Nora, sternly handing her another back up roll while giving Nora instructions. If Ren wasn't mistaken, which he wasn't ever, the tight-hearted assistant to Headmaster was explaining things the way a scolding mother might correct a naughty child.

"Now remember, Ms. Valkyrie, he's going to need extra rest for the next day, the bandages are just so he can be on stage for a while. His Aura was greatly expended in the battle, but he has enough endurance to have it start healing him within the next few hours, so until then –"

"Thankshe'sfinewegottagoIgotthishe'sfinewe'renot_together-together_byethankyousorry!" Nora said in one breath, dragging Ren out of the room and into the hall leading toward the promotion stage, where Professor Ozpin was doing the honors of announcing the teams that had formed that day. Ren barely had enough time to grab his coat from off the back of the chair as Nora pulled him away at breakneck speed, rambling about how they couldn't be late for this special occasion. Apparently, Ren, Nora, Jaune, Pyrrha, and the other four girls were the last ones to complete the assignment, and arrive back at the Academy grounds just before the ceremony started. While the other six were waiting in line to get on stage, Ren had to get his ribs set in the infirmary, and Nora, while nervous about possibly being late to get on stage, refused to let Ren get fixed up alone.

Fortunately, the partners found their way next to Pyrrha and Jaune just as the team before them got onto the stage. Jaune waved nervously and awkwardly shook Ren's hand while Nora gave a surprised Pyrrha a hug. The four warriors didn't have much to say to each other; even Nora just smiled and wiggled a little bit, but anticipation that surprisingly burned away any desire she had to yammer on about what was going on in her mind.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren…" Ozpin's voice snapped them back to reality, and the new team strode on stage, nerves finally settling as they stood before their headmaster, attentive and standing sharply. "Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie" Ozpin continued, the applause from team CRDL fading as the new squad took the stage. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as, Team Juniper." As Ozpin said this, the letters JNPR moved in place below the team member's pictures, letting the gathered students see who this new team was.

Nora in her excitement forgot about Ren's bandages, and leaped up to give him a hug around the neck, catching Ren off guard. He wanted to reprimand her, remind her that Goodwitch would be upset if she went against her orders again, but he caught himself. Let her have her moment, he thought to himself. This is too important of a moment to ruin for her.

"Led by… Jaune Arc!" Ozpin finished, earning applause from the audience along with some shocked intakes of breath. Ren turned to look at their new leader, who looked baffled that he was chosen to lead a team of his own. On the contrary, his partner Pyrrha beamed at him with pride, and if Ren wasn't wrong, a great deal of affection. Jaune didn't notice. He instead gulped and asked Professor Ozpin if he did, in fact, say "led by".

"Congratulations young man," was all the headmaster replied. Pyrrha, in her excitement, gave Jaune a punch to the shoulder, knocking her new leader clean off his feet several feet away. Realizing her punch was more powerful than intended, she looked at Jaune, horrified at putting him in a laughable position, before throwing a sheepish, apologetic smile to the Headmaster.

As Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake were called up, Ren and Nora walked off stage, followed by Jaune and Pyrrha, the latter having helped him to his feet and apologizing profusely. They stayed to watch Team RWBY be honored, with little Ruby Rose at the helm, before heading back to the sleeping areas to grab their sleeping mats, pick up the uniforms they were issued, and get directions and keys to their new dorms. Nora skipped happily ahead, Jaune running ahead as well, worrying to himself about pajamas. That left Pyrrha and Ren together, walking side by side after their partners.

Ren hadn't talked to Pyrrha very much, less than he had talked to Jaune anyways. He still didn't know the two very well, so he took the time to learn what he could.

"So, have you and Jaune been friends long?"

Pyrrha, not expecting the quiet pistol welder to speak first, jumped a little before answering with a smile. "Hmm? Oh no, no, we only met earlier today. Nothing prior to Beacon." She casually adjusted her shield, any signs of the abashed girl who knocked her partner down gone. "I take you and Nora are… um?"

"We've been best friends since first grade. Or kindergarten. I can't remember," Ren replied, putting to rest any idea of a relationship between him and his lifelong companion.

"Oh! I'm sorry, it just seems… well, she's very affectionate, so I thought –"

"We're not dating, if that's what you're getting at." Ren was used to this kind of conversation, it had lost any awkwardness or depth after years of explaining.

Pyrrha nodded. "Well, she seems like a good friend to have," Pyrrha smiled, glad to avoid the awkward topic. "She really seems to be attached to you, that's for sure. You're lucky to have someone like her in your life."

Ren thought about that. He thought about that often, and try as he might, one even was inexplicably tied to every reasoning he had about remaining best friends with Nora Valkyrie.

He remembered over hearing a fight his mother and father had, back when he was in third grade. That day Nora had come over, playing with Ren for an hour or so until her parent's came home from a mission. Unfortunately for Mr. Lie's favorite statue, Nora had taken the unhealthy combination of hot chocolate and baseball lessons, and foul balls had found its way into a family heirloom, three windows, and a lampshade Mrs. Lie had received from a valuable client of the family business. That was what eight-year-old Ren had remembered as the first time he doubted Nora's friendship – the first time he needed to know how important she was to him.

"That girl has done nothing but ruining our lives!" After yelling for Ren to go to his room, his father had demanded his family move away to be spared the insufferable family next door. Hearing his father yell about Nora as soon as Ren was up the stairs sent the little boy back, crouching just out of sight on the top step, listening and watching as the two pent-up energies forced themselves out from behind practiced smiles and quiet facades.

"But she's only eight, Xong! And you know how kind her father is, he's offered to replace anything that Nora might have broken, you know he has –"

"Replace? _Replace?!_" From his vantage point at the top of the stairs, Ren saw his father hold up a shard of the Ming vase that had been a family treasure since the Lie's first moved to vale generations past. "A window, we can replace. A lampshade, we can replace." Bringing the shard down against the table top, making Lie Ren and Lie Anna flinch in unison, Mr. Lie Xong was the picture of unadulterated rage.

"WE. CANNOT. REPLACE. _HERITAGE!_ You dishonor the entire family with your rebuke, you're setting my son up for rebellion, and you're destroying our marriage with allowing that tsunami of a child to ruin the peace I've strove to maintain!"

"_You've_ tried to maintain?!" Ren's mother cried, her tone just as loud as her husband's. "Who keeps us walking on eggshells because what we say doesn't match what you want to hear? Who kicked Yuri out because she wanted to learn to dance? You're trying to get rid of your son's best and only friend when she cleary is having a positive impact on him?"

"Positive?! She leaves impacts on our good tile floor when she runs, not on our son!"

"Ren's learning to talk to people more, and he's doing much better in school! You can't deny he hasn't offered to help you, or that he's learning it's okay to share about how he's doing - !"

They had gone on and on until well past midnight. Back and forth, going from Nora to Ren to how neither one felt the same anymore, they traded truth after truth, venom practically spewing from their lips. Ren finally retired to his bed, muffling the shouts echoing in his ears but failing to quiet the tumult of anger in his heart. He hated hearing about how his father hated Nora, hated his yelling at his mother, hated seeing his disapproving glare when Ren brought in satisfactory marks.

Ren thought back to that night, many years ago, when he sat up in bed and pulled out a paper from his bed. Nora had shoved it into his hand before being taken back home by Ren's mother, while Lie Xong stood seething in front of the broken Ming. Illuminated by moonlight, Ren was looking at a hand drawn picture of stick-figure Ren and Nora, riding a crudely drawn Ursa with the words "My Best Friend Until the End" scrawled in crayon across the top.

Tears almost leaking out, Ren had crumbled it up and thrown it against the wall, angry at the girl he had been best friends with. His mom and dad didn't love each other, and Nora was part of it. If his parent's weren't in love because of Nora, then he should get her away so his parent's would be happy.

But would they? a voice had asked him that night. Would they still love each other? Would a Nora-less life make your father happy with who you are? Would he not get angry over the little things? Would he be as proud of you as he used… as you want him to?

"Ren? You okay?"

The green clad huntsman-to-be was snapped back to reality by Pyrrha. She had walked away to gather her belongings, get a room key, and meet back with the rest of Team JNPR. In that time, Ren had stayed in place, reliving that night of nine years past. Jaune stood next to Pyrrha, looking curious and unsure what was going on. Nora had snuck up to Ren's side, a look of curiosity mixed with sadness. Ren felt his carefully painted mask start to wear thin.

"Uh, you guys go on without me. I still need to get my stuff, I kind of spaced out."

With casual waves and a called out room number Ren tucked away to remember, the rest of Team JNPR headed off to get a good night's sleep. Ren, instead, headed to where he had left his mat, getting a distasteful frown from Goodwitch for being the last one to report.

Taking his time walking down the hall, containing everything he was holding down, Ren recalled the decision he had made. _Why am I still Nora's friend?_ he had tried to answer, knowing she got on his father's nerves more than she did to him. His thoughts now echoed the response he gave himself back then.

_Because I am not who my father made himself to be. I don't need to be stoic, reserved, or honorable to gain a title or uphold a family name. I don't have anger and resentment to hold back with a mask, or a dark side that comes to rip apart my heart in trying times. And Nora Valkyrie may be a stark contrast to my entire sense of being, but it is a balance that I have used to break free of the uptight, broken life I led for so many years. _

Current Ren, at Beacon Academy, walked casually into the room, waving to his team as he collapsed on the only open bed. Pyrrha and Jaune smiled at him, seeing an exhausted and injured boy, then resumed their routine shield repair; Nora had seen past his tired expression and sat further back in her chair, looking at her friend and wishing she could do something to help.

Young Ren, nine years ago, bent to pick up the drawing he had angrily crumpled, smoothing out the wrinkles ever so carefully. Even in the drawing, Nora had drawn Ren with a straight line for a mouth, mimicking his apathetic exterior yet also unknowingly referencing how he felt inside more often than not.

_I'm friends with Nora Valkyrie because you can't push away the people important to you, especially because they aren't up to someone else's expectations. Even if Nora and I just stay friends, and if my father never talks to me again or sees me as a good son to him, he has never once given me a reason to strive for the better, feel that what I've done is enough, or that showing what I feel is acceptable._

Ren fell asleep almost instantly, not even knowing Nora had crawled into his bed after lights out, her arms carefully cradling a boy who she desperately wanted to help. Subconsciously, the corners of Ren's mouth turn upward, one of the few moments in life where the reserved lotus boy felt free enough to show what he felt.

And nine years ago, on the floor of his room, while parent's gambled their happiness away, Ren quietly took a crayon and drew a happy face over the straight line for his mouth.

_Because when he was with Nora, he was given a reason to smile._


	5. Chapter 5: Bonds and Bullies

**Chapter 5: Bonds and Bullies**

Nora found herself enjoying life at Beacon immensely. Granted, studying was her least favorite part, especially for the boring classes, but combat practice, work outs, the trips around campus, and getting to eat meals and unwind in the dorm with her team were so much fun! She was getting to get to know Pyrrha well, and when Teams JNPR and RWBY got together Yang and Nora seemed to hit it off very well. Not to say she didn't like the other teammates; she just seemed to have more fun with the rough-and-tumble blonde more than the other girls.

In fact, Yang seemed to be almost Nora's counterpart in many areas. She liked jumping into situations and just going with their gut, she was something of a tomboy but embraced their femininity just as much, and she liked brute force with a side of manic fighting.

At the moment, Nora was busy telling Yang about a dream she had been having for the last few months. Well, she was telling it to the rest of the two teams as well, but Yang was the only one listening; Ruby and Pyrrha were looking mournfully at Jaune, who was fiddling with his spoon and looking downcast, Blake was reading, Weiss was busily filing her nails, and Ren was ruining the story by correcting the slight exaggerations Nora was freely making.

"So, there we were, in the middle of the night…!"

"It was day," Ren corrected nonchalantly. Nora ignored him; she wanted to tell the story her way, and Yang seemed just as happy to hear the story alongside Ren's remarks.

"We were surrounded by Ursi…"

"They were Beowolves."

Nora stood up for dramatic effect. "Dozens of them!" she shouted, glad to see Yang's eyes widen even more.

"Two of them," Ren sighed, balancing his tea mug in the palm of his hand.

Nora sat back down, arms crossed and triumph emanating from her smile as she finished the story off. "But they were no match! And in the end, Ren and I too them down, and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

Ren let out another sigh. "She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now." Nora would have playfully shoved Ren and started another story if Pyrrha didn't turn the attention on Jaune.

"Jaune," JNPR's lieutenant said, leaning over to her partner, "are you okay?"

Jaune didn't respond for a few seconds, clearly lost in thought. "Huh?" he finally exclaimed, the question registering. "Oh, yeah! Why?"

Ruby was the next to raise a question. "It's just that you seem a little… not okay." _Come to think of it, Jaune has been a little off lately, and he seems less confident than he normally isn't,_ Nora thought to herself. She looked on at her leader, hoping he was as okay as he tried to look right now.

Blake had set her book down, and Weiss was no longer filing her nails. Even Ren sat his mug down, and Nora knew even he was concerned for JNPR's reluctant captain.

Jaune obviously wanted to get out of the spotlight, his cheeks starting to pink. "Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look?" Here he pulled his most convincing smile and held up a big "thumbs up". A commotion a few tables down, however, weakened his smile and Jaune looked over, as did the rest of the RWBY/JNPR alliance. Cardin Winchester and the rest of team CRNL were laughing at and mocking the little Faunus Velvet Scarlatina.

"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha finally said, addressing the problem everyone else was thinking. Nora slowly started remembering having to help Jaune pick his books up, the blonde's nervousness around the huge mace wielder, and the unfair duel that occurred earlier that day, with Cardin pulling the dirtiest moves in the book on the inexperienced Jaune.

Jaune apparently didn't think so. "Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

Ruby looked at Jaune worriedly. "He's a bully," she stressed, eyes pleading for Jaune to admit the predicament.

Jaune scoffed. "Oh _please! _Name one time he's "bullied"me," Jaune countered, trying to look confident and in control. Everyone at the table looked at each other before listing Cardin's knocking Jaune's book out of his hands, opening the shield/sheath of Crocea Mors as Jaune walked into a building, and the time Cardin locked Jaune in his own rocket locker and launched him off campus. Jaune's only defense was the weak rebuttal of not landing that far from the school.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just _ask_."

This gave Nora a sudden idea of revenge. "Oh, oh!" she cried, jumping on her seat, arms flexed and her expression one of blood lust and excited rage. "We'll break his legs!" Her idea didn't garner much support, but no one called her out on it, so it must not have been a totally bad idea.

Jaune stood up, trying to still defend himself. "Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to _me_; he's a jerk to everyone." At this point, Cardin was pulling on Velvet's ears despite her pleas for him to stop. Eventually she was released, walking away nervously and with a hand over her face.

"Atrocious," Pyrrha fumed, upset with Cardin's obvious racism against the Faunus. "I can't stand people like him."

"He's not the only one," Blake said murderously.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus" Yang quipped, her concern for Velvet evident despite he slouched figure. Everyone turned and watched as Jaune left the table, heading off to be alone for a while. As he walked off, Nora couldn't help but see how sad Pyrrha was about how miserable Jaune was. The Valkyrie girl leaned in next to Pyrrha and whispered to her. "If you want, you can break Cardin's left leg," Nora said, trying to comfort the Spartan. Pyrrha smiled halfheartedly, too concerned with Jaune's well being to react beyond a half laugh before returning to her food.

Lunch for both teams was uneventful after that. Even the talkative Yang and Nora felt too awkward about Jaune's isolation and bullying to say much, and the conversation was kept to a few snippets that died away after a few minutes of life. Nora used the last few minutes of lunch just for thinking to herself. She normally didn't know what to do in lulls of conversation, or when everything was quiet and she couldn't be running around hitting things or staying active in some way. When they were about nine and Nora started feeling self-conscious about being on medication for the kids who couldn't focus, Ren helped her overcome that with taking deep breaths, lowly tightening and untightening her arms starting with her fingers and ending with her shoulders, and just organizing her thoughts and just thinking. It had worked rather well, and Nora hadn't had a problem focusing since

The orange haired girl now tried thinking about how she could help Jaune, but nothing was coming to mind. She didn't hang out with him as much as Pyrrha did, and he didn't go to her for advice the say he sometimes did with Ren, so Nora's options were slim. And breaking Cardin's legs might not stop the bully from striking again once he recovered. She glanced over at Pyrrha, who was glumly looking at her food, and just wished she could do something to help at least her feel better…

Nora's turquoise eyes widened, an idea coming to her. She had seen how Pyrrha was so worried about Jaune when she saw him fail at a task or when we was bullied by Cardin, but she also saw how happy the Spartan girl was when her partner learned something new, or got high marks on an assignment, or really anything positive. _Maybe she feels for him the same way I do about Ren, and just needs a chance to help him! _Nora thought. She had seen that something was wrong with Ren on the first day as the "R" in "JNPR"; it was the same moody, upset kind of Ren she had seen many times since knowing him, and try as she might there didn't seem to be something she could do to help him when he was like that.

_Ren may be the kind of person to work things out himself, but Jaune definitely isn't_ Nora determined, getting up to turn in her lunch tray. _If Jaune and Pyrrha can help each other out, it's my job to make sure that happens._

* * *

><p>"Pyrrha! Pyrrha!"<p>

The red-head of JNPR stopped and turned as Nora ran toward her, pink backpack slung over one shoulder and her uniform over the other. Nora skidded to a halt in front of Pyrrha, smiling up at the only other girl on her team. "Cans I talk to you as we go change for class?" Nora asked, pulling her most happy and professional face. Pyrrha seemed like the kind of girl who appreciated being professional but liked being happy even more.

Pyrrha smiled, adjusting the uniform across her shoulder as she did. "Sure Nora, let's walk to the changing station and you can tell me –"

"So, I was thinking to myself at lunch, and I really don't like how Jaune's been treated because he is our leader, but I saw how sad and stuff you looked when he was all sad too. I mean, you are his partner, so you want the best for him, doesn't anyone? I mean even more than Ren and I do, even if Ren doesn't show it a lot, he's still –"

"Nora, please, slow down a little," Pyrrha said, politely waving to get Nora's attention before she babbled any more. "That's nice and all, but what is it you wanted to tell me?"

"I think I know how you can help Jaune out."

Pyrrha paused for a moment, clearly intrigued that Nora had a plan aside from leg breaking. "Really? You mean how we could stop Cardin from bullying him, because that would –"

"No no no, silly!" Nora said, playfully giving her friend a soft push. "I mean how you, personally, can help Jaune! Maybe not with bullying, but with other stuff, even though this could help him stop being bullied, or be brave enough to stand up to Cardin, or really anything, I mean he isn't the pointless stick in the forest when it comes to fighting, you know, so this might help him –"

"Yes, Nora, I get it, but what is this plan exactly, then?" Pyrrha was getting frustrated; Nora sometimes forgot not everyone was as patient as Ren was.

"Spend time with him. Like maybe offer to show him some tricks, or maybe study with him after class, or something like that, you can't really be passive about this kind of thingy."

Pyrrha looked at Nora quizzically. "What kind of "thingy" do you mean? Dealing with bullies?"

Nora leaned in for a whisper. "Boy thingies," Nora hushed, noticing her team mates cheeks tinge a shade of red. As the two walked into the changing room, Pyrrha dragged Nora to a more remote area, likely understanding Nora's deeper meaning.

"Jaune and I are just teammates, really. I mean, he's a great guy and all, and he doesn't put me on a pedestal the way others do, and he's so kindhearted about everything, but –"

"Ah! No buts!" Nora interrupted, trading her pink and white top for the standard school shirt. "It doesn't matter if you like him or he's just a friend, as a guy he's different. If you want to be a good teammate, and maybe get him to like you, spend time with him! He'll open up eventually, maybe share what's bugging him and ask you for advice, and maybe you can help him from there!"

Pyrrha smiled, pulling her combat shorts of in favor of the plaid ruffled skirt she had on the bench next to her. "I'm actually surprised Nora, that might just work out. You didn't really seem to be the kind of person who'd give advice like that."

Nora blushed modestly. "Oh, it's something my mom told me a while ago. Guys talk better when they're out doing something, you know, like they like working on something and that helps them relax and talk more often. It works for her, so I thought it would work for you and Jaune."

Pyrrha smiled, a little embarrassed to have her predicament likened to communication in a marriage, but she patted Nora on the shoulder. "Well, I'll try and come up with something to gauge his interests. I would be great if this helped him open up more often, has it ever worked for you and Ren?"

Nora blushed again, this time for different reasons. "We're not together-together! We're just friends, since like forever, so we really know each other really well but we aren't –"

Pyrrha waved a hand modestly, trying to quiet the flustered Nora's rapid fire excuses. "Relax, I understand you are not in a relationship, Ren cleared it up for me quickly. I just wanted to know if you guys are comfortable to share what's on your mind."

Nora stopped talking for a while, now trying to enunciate her thoughts so they made sense outside of her mind. "Well… Ren's different from other people I know." Nora found herself talking slow and measured, something she rarely did and should be treasured like an exotic animal. "He doesn't really talk a lot, and even less about what goes on in his mind. I've tried to be available for him to share what goes on in there," her she pointed to her temple, "and he's shared some of it with me, but mostly he just needs someone to sit next to." Nora took a deep breath, every nerve on fire and every heartstring feeling frayed as she told more about the few shards she knew of her dear friend's closely guarded interior. "He seems to put a wall around certain areas of his life… he doesn't know it, but I heard a lot when we were neighbors and the lights went out. His dad –" Nora had to stop before she went too far. That was a touchy subject and knew sharing it would betray Ren's trust in her and her own emotions about the topic.

"To say the least, he doesn't share a lot, but for now I'm okay with not knowing everything. We're different, for sure, but we put that aside and just enjoy being together… but not _together-together_." Nora closed her eyes, sitting on the bench as she got a lot off of her chest. She had purposely ended with her usual amendment to the state Ren and she were at, not to show that she wanted anything beyond a friendship (which she did) but because she needed to remember that doing so could let her believe he liked her back.

Pyrrha was at a loss for words. Instead of offering condolences and an empty "it's going to be okay," she opted for putting a reassuring arm around her teammate's shoulder. "Thank you," Pyrrha said, helping Nora to her feet. They were the only two left in the room, and class was going to start in three minutes. Fully uniformed, both the girls walked into the now crowded hallways, blending in as students milled about on their way to their next academic pit stops.

* * *

><p>"Class dismissed. Mr. Arc, Mr. Winchester, please see me at my desk, as I mentioned earlier."<p>

History class wasn't as boring Nora had expected to be. It had actually become one of the few classes she paid attention in and enjoyed learning about. Originally, she might have called it her favorite because Professor Oobleck zoomed around class with his disheveled clothes and coffee, yelling enthusiastically about wars and history and the Faunus Rights Movement, but eventually his enthusiasm leaked over to Nora, who made contests out of keeping up with the professor's lightning fast lectures, trying to stay focused on the caffeine fueled form that dashed here and there in the blink of an eye, and, as she grew more confident in the subjects, trying to answer questions as quickly as he could deliver them.

As Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha walked outside the classroom, Nora couldn't help but admire how dapper Ren looked. She didn't see him in formal wear often, and even though every guy wore one (even that horrible Cardin Winchester), Ren seemed to fill his out very nicely, giving his already handsome frame a rather scholarly and yet edgy touch that Nora couldn't help glow at.

"You two go on ahead, I'll wait for Jaune," Pyrrha said as JNPR minus their leader left Oobleck's room. The red head snuck a wink at Nora, who smiled back in response. With that, Nora walked with her best friend back to the dorm room.

Ren didn't say anything, as usual. Nora walked next to him, hands behind her back, smiling as usual. "What did you think of the lecture, Ren?" Nora rarely made small talk, but wanted to try and talk _with_ Ren for a change, instead of talking _to_ him as usual. Her earlier talk with Pyrrha had encouraged Nora to try and listen to Ren more in hopes of making him feel comfortable enough to talk to her about any troubles he had.

Ren merely nodded, answering in his usual reserved nature. "It's always baffled me how people like Cardin Winchester can be so ignorant and uncaring for the Faunus; they are humans just like us."

Knowing Ren wasn't the kind to go further on that one thought, Nora gleefully added her imput. "I know, right? Cardin makes me soooo mad sometimes, first Jaune, now Velvet and all those other Faunus! He's such a jerk! Good thing Pyrrha and Blake were there to put him in his place, huh?"

This Ren had to smirk at. "Yes, Blake sure knew how to make Cardin regret opening his mouth like that."

"Do you think Jaune's going to be okay? Professor Oobleck seems nice enough, but I hope he doesn't go too hard on out leader, right? Aren't you worried about Jaune?"

Ren thought for a moment, magenta eyes filing through words to say before arranging them into an answer. "I recall Oobleck saying something about an additional assignment. It shouldn't be anything extra strict; so long as Jaune studies and doesn't waste his time, he shouldn't be in any trouble."

Nora always enjoyed watching Ren think or muse over something. Being his friend for so long let her see that the passive expression Ren wore so often was more intricate and varied than most others could tell; she could almost hear the little gears turning in his head, his eyes betraying any thoughts that might pop up or showing what and how something might affect him. "But what about Jaune in, you know, general? He seems a little behind in fighting and school, aren't you afraid he might not be able to keep up with everyone else? I'm not doubting his abilities, he did do a good job getting Pyrrha and I to take down the Death Stalker, even though you were a big part of it, but he saw a good plan and went with it, you know? I just hope he can improve from there, is all."

_Slow down, girl,_ Nora told herself. _Too much might scare him away from talking more._

_Come on,_ she thought back, _this is Ren we're thinking about! He knows I talk a lot; he's not new to it or anything. Besides, he's always been more of a listener; he's fine if I went on a little bit longer than usual._

_Yes Nora,_ her other half of her mind replied, _but aren't you trying to get_ him _to talk more? Wasn't this part of the big plan you had going? Let him share his thoughts with you so he'd be more willing to tell you all his little secrets and stuff with you so you can be a good friend and one step closer to being together-together?_

_Oh, I'm sorry,_ Nora snapped back. _Was part of the plan thinking to yourself and not paying attention to what he's saying? Way to go Nora, this is working well._

Not bothering to respond, Nora snuck back to that wonderful world of normalcy to hear what she hadn't missed of Ren's response. "…trust in him, he'll handle it well enough," Ren had finished, not noticing Nora's temporary moment of spacing out.

"Yeah, you're right," Nora said, putting on her best "I support that" smile so her friend knew she backed up everything he was saying. She squinted her eyes and tossed up a big two thumbs up for good measure. "He'll do better eventually."

"So, do you think they like each other?"

Nora almost did a double take. Ren? Posing the questions to her? She almost wanted to get a picture of this; maybe her tactic was going to work better than she thought. Not only was her quiet, demure friend asking questions, but they were relationship questions! The foundation of schoolyard gossip! This could be a milestone, up there with driver's license, graduating secondary schooling, and killing your first Grimm.

Doing her best not to look too surprised, Nora pried for more information. "What makes you said that, Ren?" The duo had now made it toward their dorm, a locked door the only thing separating the two from home.

Ren pulled out his room key, sliding it into the slot and, when the soft beeping sounded, pushed the door open, letting Nora in first. Always the gentleman Nora thought, pushing her dreamy thoughts aside to hear Ren's opinion. The setting sun's last light was creeping in through their window, highlighting their room with just the right shade of orange and dark blue.

"I think at this point we can obviously say Pyrrha likes Jaune, from going as far to nail him to a tree and practically calling dibs on him, and then how concerned she was about his wellbeing about Cardin's bullying. Now she wants to wait outside for him after class." Ren looked Nora in the eye, gently taking off his jacket as he did so. "However, I haven't seen any signs of Jaune liking her back. Have you?"

Nora shook her head, secretly proud of herself for drawing Ren out and happy for him to be sharing his thoughts with her. "Haven't you talked to Jaune often? Has that ever come up?"

Ren shook his head. "Honestly most of what we've discussed is his questions on assignments or exchanging tactics on taking out types of Grimm. Since the Death Stalker incident, I think he's tried to see if I had any other grand ideas on the subject of monster killing." Ren chuckled. "I think I'm more surprised than he is about it, to be honest."

Nora beamed, pleased Ren was making connections as fast as she was; she never worried about him doing so, but was all the same glad no one seemed to be put off by his usually quiet demeanor; the same was often said of Nora's hyperactivity, and often the two were left to being by themselves at new situations because of this. "That's great Ren! It's really good Jaune's going to you for advice, that way out team can be more connected and happy together! Oh! I've talked to Pyrrha a little myself cause, know you, she's the only other girl on the team, and she's really nice too, so yeah, naturally we'd be talking like how you and Jaune are! She's won a lot of really cool championships, you'd love some of the stories she's told me already. Oh, and remember Pumpkin Pete's cereal? She was on the Marshmallow Flakes boxes two years ago! We never knew who that one was, and now we're going to the same school as her!"

Ren sat down on his bed, his neutral gaze showing affectionate recognition of Nora's favorite cereal. "I remember that cereal. You'd make us eat until we were sick so you could order the special toys that would come in the mail."

"Wasn't that fun? Sure the cereal would turn the milk weird colors and we'd need to brush our teeth extra good, but all that waiting for the toys to come, running home after school to see if they arrived –" Nora couldn't help but laugh as she relived the memories. "Those decoder rings we got once were total fakes! We ended up using them as tops because they wouldn't decode anything! Remember how we'd end up just using the boxes as toys if we didn't like the prizes that came in them?"

Ren lay back on his bed, head propped behind his hands. "Those certainly were good times." He sighed; not an exasperated sigh, nor a tired sigh, but a content sigh. "You know, I really look forward to these next four years. I think we have ourselves a really good team."

Almost on cue, Pyrrha walked into the room. Nora turned around to say hello and ask how it went with Jaune, but stopped when she saw her friend. The normally confident girl was slouched over, her assured stride replaced with a shuffle, head averted to look slightly downward. Worry crept into Nora's heart. "Pyrrha?" Nora cautiously asked. "Is everything okay? Where's Jaune?"

Pyrrha just shrugged, emerald eyes staring at her shoes. She released a pent up breath, all signs pointing toward bad news. Finally, she managed to get out one thing.

"He wanted to be left alone."

* * *

><p>It had been an hour, and Jaune still didn't come to the dorm. Nora was laying in her bed, worrying about her leader and what had happened to Pyrrha. She had tried to talk with the Spartan further, but Pyrrha shrugged her off, saying there wasn't much to say and she just needed to calm down before sharing more. Ren did his best to let the two have talking time, even asking Pyrrha himself if she was alright. But there was no getting around it – Pyrrha Nikos was not okay.<p>

As she heard Ren snoozing in his own bed across the room from her, Nora peered out from under her covers to look at him. He was partially curled up on one side, years of sleeping next to someone sending signals to his body to make room for Nora. Nora sighed. She would normally go over there, but it didn't feel right; a little distance was alright, Ren didn't seem to mind getting more rest, and this was a kind of worry that Nora needed to think about with distractions.

Eventually, she heard it – footsteps approaching her team's door. Jaune! Nora thought, and her suspicions were confirmed; alongside her leader's shaky voice was the sneer of Cardin Winchester.

"Alright, Jauney boy, don't forget – that paper needs to be on Oobleck's desk by next class! Unless you want me to talk to Goodwitch about our little –"

"No no, its fine," Jaune stammered back. "Your paper will be there! And uh, lemmie know what else I can do…"

"See, Jauney? Being friends isn't so hard. You get some sleep now – if you have time of course."

_Cardin? Is he blackmailing Jaune?_ Nora felt anger rising up in her gut. _No one threatens my team mates, especially not Cardin! Why, if he's doing what I think he's doing, I'll –_

The door creaked open, and Jaune's skinny form made its way into the bed next to Ren, slumping down with an audible groan.

Nora quietly went back to thinking, wishing she could do something to help her leader. She let her mind race, a dangerous idea in most cases, as Nora's imagination was unpredictable and would often come up with the craziest schemes, sometimes out of nowhere and with no way of knowing how they formed… such as one that was trickling its way into her mind right now.

Nora sat up in bed, eyes agleam with mischief. Making sure the rest of the team was asleep, she creaked open the window of her dorm and jumped out, running across campus as soon as she hit the ground, ducking around trees and hiding from any teachers that were given nightly patrols. Nora also avoided areas that she knew were guarded by security cameras and trip-wire alarms; while the school trusted students, they had the equipment up in case Grimm or other unsavory intruders found their way on campus. Nora still didn't expect the staff to not be concerned about a girl running toward the forbidden areas of campus.

Nora knew what she was doing was very risky and could very well get her kicked out of the school she desperately wanted to stay in, but it staying wouldn't be worth it if she couldn't set things right between Jaune and Cardin. And sitting back and watching as Cardin bullied Jaune or got him in trouble – even worse, in trouble with Glynda Goodwitch – wouldn't sit well with Nora.

Stopping to grab the knife she had hidden in the crevice of a tree, Nora dashed back onto her path, heading faster and faster toward the looming pines ahead of them. What had started as an amusing idea for her suddenly became a sharp reality that would require time, unwavering skill, a feat of strength, and (harder to come by) the willingness of her long-time accomplice Lie Ren.

Making mental note of the other areas she needed to visit to pull this stunt off, the pink-adorned Valkyrie headed to her first destination; the cliffs of the Emerald Forest. Coming to a stop, her heart threatening to break free of her chest, Nora surveyed the area until she saw the old temple where she had nabbed the tower relic. Everything was as they had left it, which was just what she needed.

_For this to work,_ she thought, _I'm going to need the help of an old friend…_


	6. Chapter 6: Resolution Meets Reward

**Chapter 6: Resolution Meets Reward**

Under normal circumstances, Ren might have let Jaune go to Pyrrha for help on the Cardin issue, or maybe even Ruby if that's what it would take to get the blonde boy to get help. But with his leader's frequent disappearances and constant summons from the Winchester brute, Ren decided to try and speak with Jaune himself.

Sadly, this didn't work out as well as Ren hoped.

While the skilled marksman was well versed in observing and gathering important details about people, Jaune was definitely a challenge to try and approach. He was very elusive, finding reasons to run off and get more work done, insisting he needed to head off for more combat practice, or receiving a call on his scroll from Cardin and leaving to meet with him. Ren managed to overhear Cardin refer to himself as "your buddy", much to Jaune's chagrin.

_So more of his time is going toward spending time with Cardin Winchester,_ Ren thought to himself as he walked to his next class. Obviously Jaune isn't doing this because Cardin has had a change of heart, and I haven't seen Jaune join Cardin in his bullying; something feels very wrong about this whole situation.

Ren put his thoughts on hold as Nora Valkyrie, practically his second shadow, skipped up to him, sunny as ever. _Maybe a little more happy than normal,_ Ren mused, _if such a thing was possible _a small smile breaking his normally somber mien.

Sure enough, it was. Nora grabbed his hand and started bouncing up and down eagerly, spitting out words at a mile a minute. "Oh! Oh! Oh! Ren! Guess what? I got some great news, and it's not like the whole "good news bad news" deal people say all the time! Professor Port canceled his lecture today! We don't have to sit through his boring stories for another hour! We can go back to the dorm and hang out! Won't that be fun!" Nora's smile faded ever so slightly, her bounces slowing until she was standing still. "Ren, are you okay? You're just staring at me and it's freaking me out…"

Ren merely cleared his throat, wiggling his fingers in an attempt to communicate to Nora to let go of his hand. As much as his heart felt like soaring, Ren's will kept it grounded to avoid letting himself get lost in his pent-up desires and secret wishes. Nora got the cue, and, with a heartbreakingly sad frown, let go of Ren's hand, opting instead to walk at Ren's side with her books, arms clutching her books in front of her.

_She's never looked that sad before,_ Ren thought, his interest piqued. _Was she…?_ Ren shook his head. _No, best not read into whatever it is, maybe she's just had a bad day and didn't like being shut down about her story._ To compensate, Ren put a hand on her shoulder, and sure enough, Nora perked up, staring at the hand. "So, Nora," Ren asked, Nora's eyes meeting his as he removed his palm, "What was the other part of the story you were telling me?"

Nora smiled again, a skip back in her step as she looked ahead and finished her anecdote. "Well, I learned more about our Forever Fall field trip tomorrow, you know, the one where we need to try to collect sap for Professor Peach? It turns out we get to keep some of it! Isn't that great? We don't really know what she wants with her part of the sap, but syrup is like sap, right? So we could have like a pancake party when we come back and put the sap on our pancakes and just eat and have fun as a team! Oh! We could invite Team RWBY, and let them have some. No, wait, that means less for us. But still, yay, we get to eat the sap! Isn't that a good idea? It's been a while since you made pancakes, you'll have fun!"

Ren, being quiet by nature, had a lot of hidden talents not everyone outside of his family and Nora knew of, one of them being cooking. Pancakes were his specialty, as were other breakfast foods; Ren usually stuck with pancakes so that Nora had an excuse to drench something in syrup, and she often raved about how they were the best pancakes she had tasted. Even Ren had an ego he needed fueled sometimes, and getting praise from Nora did twice the job anyone else's words could.

Reaching their dorm room, Ren smiled, agreeing with a nod. "I can do pancakes. I'll ask the kitchen staff tomorrow morning if I can borrow enough flour, eggs, milk, and the rest of what I need."

Hopefully Jaune will be around to enjoy them too, Ren thought, pushing the door open. Pyrrha wasn't back yet, and if her gloominess the last few days spoke any volumes, she'd be back by night-time. Earlier than Jaune would be, but still later than she normally was.

_I hope Jaune didn't do anything too bad her,_ Ren thought, heading to the bathroom to change into his normal clothing. _She's taking his absences rather harshly, and this team hasn't been doing so well these past few days._

_We need Jaune back._

* * *

><p>It was nine thirty, and still no Jaune. Pyrrha was staring out the window, eyes filled with sorrow. Nora was occupied with bouncing on her bed, but wasn't laughing or smiling as she normally did. As for Ren, Stormflower didn't polish itself, so he was rubbing at the weapon with his cleaning kit. No one spoke for a while, before Nora broke the silence with the topic on everyone's mind. "How come Jaune gets home so late?"<p>

Ren gazed down one of his pistol's sights, loading another Dust cartridge in. "He's become rather scarce since he started fraternizing with Cardin."

Nora kept bouncing, worry highlighting her eyes. "That's _weird_... Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our **rest**!" At the last word, she flipped around and landed on her bed, bouncing once before returning to laying on her back.

Pyrrha finally spoke, heavy sarcasm replacing her moody behavior. "I'm sure our leader knows _exactly_ what he's doing."

Ren exchanged a concerned look with Nora, fearing for the malice that practically dripped from her voice. _She definitely isn't happy with Jaune,_ Ren thought, but didn't push further, leaving Nora to offer support to her chum. "Mmmmm… I guess so…" _Okay, not the best of support, but less awkward than anything else we could have said. _

Ren tucked Stormflower away, sliding under his covers. He didn't own pajamas, mostly because his normal clothes were so much more comfortable and because he never felt like there was a need for them. Nora still thought this practice of his was weird, heading to the dorm's restroom to change into a pink top and baby blue shorts (possibly the only non-pink item she liked). Pyrrha stayed by the window, returning to her hurt expression without showing signs of needing sleep.

As Ren felt his eyes getting heavier, he hoped Nora would sneak in next to him; he didn't say so, but he missed the orange haired girl's arms around him and hoped they weren't growing apart in anyway. Nora hadn't been by his side for nearly a week, and he had thought her sneak out at night once, but it must have been for a bathroom break.

Now that he thought of it, Nora was spending quite a bit of her free time outside, and had turned down free hours with Ren claiming she was busy, scampering away before he could ask anything further.

Before he fell asleep, Ren felt a small tug of jealousy tug at his conscience, screaming silently that Nora wasn't spending her time with anyone else.

* * *

><p>"Nora!"<p>

Ren's call went unheeded; Nora had run away and was now whisper talking with Yang, who smiled and gave Nora a pat on the back, laughing a little as the two walked over to a couple of empty seats, likely to talk about fighting techniques or whatever else the two were talking about.

"Having trouble there, Ren?"

Blake's voice at his side caused Ren to turn, the black haired katana/cleaver wielder looking at him with must have been sly amusement tinged with expectation.

Blake and Ren had hung out on occasion, not talking so much as reading next to each other or sharing wry glances at their team mate's antics. They had shared a few conversations, but the two introverts didn't really need to talk to understand how the other was feeling.

Ren sighed. "Nora's been acting really odd lately.

"How so?" Blake asked, leaning against one of the airship's walls, eyes on Ren.

"She's been rather secretive and hasn't spent as much time around me as normal. I've started to have this nagging feeling that I've become boring to her, or that she's making deeper friendships with other people."

"Like Yang and Pyrrha?" Ren could have sworn Blake's bow twitched, but it could have been the sudden jump the ship took as it took some turbulence.

"Yeah, like with them. And I think she might be sneaking out at night. I don't know what she's up to, but I have a bad feeling about it."

Blake smiled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't worry so much, Nora's just making friends. She isn't going to be by your side twenty four seven, and you're going to have to accept that." She jerked a thumb over to where Yang and Nora had finished their conversation, Nora skipping back toward Ren. "She certainly hasn't lost interest in you, that's for sure." Blake slunk off, leaving Ren to greet Nora when she arrived.

"Nora, what's going –"

"I just needed to catch up with Yang, she has some things I need for the field trip. I'm so excited, this is going to be fun! The forest is said to stay all red and orange every day of the year, it sounds so pretty! I really wish I could live there; sap everywhere, all the pretty colors, it sounds like the best place to – OH! Look! We're passing over the forest now, look look look!"

Nora zoomed over to the window, nose pressed against the glass, eyes wide with glee as the grassy plain gave way to splotches of deep scarlet and auburn, slowly overpowering the view for miles until the world was a tranquil shade of autumn that stretched on and on.

Ren looked on, the view almost as exciting as the pure jubilation of his partner. _You may love this girl,_ Ren told himself, _but you can't hope she will feel the way back. She's too over the place to want to settle for you, she needs someone to keep her adventurous spirit on a high. That's when she's the happiest. _

Another worm of though snuck in, easing Ren's ache with an echoed word Blake had given him. _Don't worry,_ the thought coaxed. _At least she trusts you and cares for you; if she wants to talk, you know you're the first one she'll go to. Remember how she called out for you when you were thrown by the Death Stalker? Remember how she wouldn't let you get your bandages wrapped without her there?_

The air ship landed, the captain's voice over the loud speakers informing teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL to exit the aircraft and enjoy their time in the forest.

_You aren't losing her, Ren; just learning who both of you are becoming._

* * *

><p>The forest put everyone in a good mood. Even Pyrrha was feeling better, smiling for the first time all week as she proudly held up another jar of sap. Even with her partner off with Team CRDL, the team's lieutenant was in much better spirits today.<p>

Ren handed Nora another just filled jar, turning to fill the next one. Handing Nora the jar he just filled, Ren was shocked and angered that Nora had just drunk the entire jar he had just handed to her. Ren felt a frown strike across his face, Nora just giggling bashfully as her whole mouth was covered in the purple sap. _As much as it's good to see her enjoy herself, I wish she'd focus on the task at hand and not screw around._

He went back to filling the jar, just wishing he'd have brought more snacks for Nora. She had already eaten her share (and half of Ren's, which he let slide only because she was Nora and he wasn't a big eater) and how had demolished her third consecutive jar of sap. And she wasn't even helping fill up.

"Nora, if you'd just grab a jar and help us stock up, maybe Goodwitch wouldn't get so upset at you for eating Professor Peach's sap," Ren said, trying to stop his anger from seeping into his words.

"Goodwitch doesn't like me anyways. Besides, they did say we could have some of the extra sap we gathered!" Despite this, Nora did pick up a jar and hold it to a spout in a nearby tree, finally pulling her own weight.

Ren's slightly brightened mood was interrupted as Team CRDL, minus Cardin, ran through the forest, stumbling over their own feet and casting fearful glances around. Russell, the one with the green Mohawk, was calling "Ursa! Ursa!" warning the other teams of the Grimm they must have seen. Yang grabbed the coward by his collar, hoisting him up and peppering him with questions.

"It's back there, it's got Cardin!" Russell yelped out. Across from the fiery blonde, Pyrrha dropped the jar she had just filled. "Jaune!" she exclaimed, apparently remembering her leader was with the bully and hadn't run away with the three bird-themed boys.

Ruby sprang into action, yelling orders to her team. "Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!"

"You two, go with them!" Pyrrha commanded, motioning to Nora and Ren. "There could be more!"

Ren nodded curtly, dashing off after Yang and Blake with Nora at his side. About half way to Goodwitch, who was chatting with the pilot about arriving back at the school, Yang suddenly veered off the path, running deeper into the woods.

"Yang!" Blake shouted. "Where are you –?"

"Keep going!" Yang shouted, not even turning back. "Cover for us, okay?" Blake shrugged, and sped off to tell Goodwitch about the Ursa. Ren followed, but a sharp tug on his hand veered him in the same direction Yang was going. Nora had his hand in a vice-like grip and was running after Yang at breakneck speed.

"Nora, what are you doing?! This isn't the way to –!"

"Trust me on this, okay?!" Nora yelled, catching up with Yang as the three ran further into the forest, turning left, the direction where Russell and his "fearless" teammates had run from.

Finally, they skidded to a stop, Nora only now releasing her grip on her partner's hand. Ren hunched over, tired from the whole ordeal. "Nora… please…" he said as he tried to catch his breath, "what's the meaning of this?"

Nora straightened up, blowing a breath between her teeth. "Cardin's blackmailing Jaune."

"What?!" Yang and Ren squawked in unison. Ren had thought something weird was going on, but what would Jaune have to hide that Cardin could hold over this head?

"I'm not sure what about, but I heard him threaten Jaune about having a talk with Goodwitch, and it didn't sound good. So," Nora said, running over to a tree and pulling out a thick package that was nestled in the branches closest to the ground, "we need to take these matters into our own hands. That Ursa may take care of Jaune's bully, but if not," here she pulled out something black and shaggy, metal rods, and an assortment of wires, stakes, gears, and other metal odds and ends, "we're going to give Cardin a little payback. Drive home the point that picking on people isn't nice."

Ren was astonished. Nora had a plan that she was going to execute beautifully, and wasn't charging head first into an attack without thinking. However, as she saw what Nora was putting together, he felt his heart sink. _I don't think I like what I'm imagining this to be,_ he thought. Yang looked pleased however, and helped Nora assemble what started to look like a tent's skeleton frame.

"Nora, you know that this is a crazy idea right?" Ren asked cautiously.

"Yep!" Nora replied, connecting tubing together into what looked like a pair of legs.

"And you know if this doesn't work we'll get kicked out of Beacon?"

"Yep!"

A roar and a thump resounded, and the three dashed to a nearby bush to investigate. Jaune was there, fighting off a full grown Ursa Major, as Cardin sat on the ground in awe. Jaune was losing strength fast, but he still charged at the bear all the same, a guttural battle cry crashing out of his lungs.

As the massive Ursa swung a paw down onto Jaune, the boy's shield came up, parrying the attack, and with a grunt, Jaune Arc swung his sword in an upward circle, decapitating the monster of Grimm in one fluid slash. The beasts head fell to the ground as Jaune stood triumphant over his first single-handed victory.

"And you now realize," Ren mouthed quietly, watching as Jaune helped Cardin up and warned him not to mess with his team or friends again, "that Jaune has handled Cardin on his own, and that this likely is just going overboard and won't be necessary?"

Nora smiled, booping Ren on the nose as she leaned in next to him, causing Ren to feel his heart beating a pace faster. "Yes, Ren" she said sing-song fashion, getting up and heading over to finish her project.

Ren stood up, eyes fixed on Cardin Winchester who stood up, defeated and looking apologetically as Jaune walked away. "Then why do it? Why do exactly to Cardin what almost killed Jaune just now?"

With a flourish, Nora unveiled the finishing touch to her new weapon, a manic grin shifting her sweet-girl aesthetic into a mask of delighted insanity that would have frightened anyone not used to the brawler's mindset.

"Because no one messes with my team." Pushing the skinned hide of her former steed onto the wire frame she made, she motioned for Ren to take his place inside. "Now, are you gonna help me exact revenge, Mr. Legs?"

Ren smiled. His mind may have told him this was completely insane, but he admitted he did want to show Cardin a lesson he wouldn't forget. And why not do so in a way that would go down as possibly one of the craziest, most intricate plans ever?

* * *

><p>He had to admit, Nora was pretty ingenious. Ren would never had been able to think of using the hide of the Ursa major they had ridden to the abandoned temple as a shield and constructing a metal tubing skeleton for Yang, Nora, and Ren to operate underneath.<p>

Ren was situated at the back, his own legs on stilted and stuffed Ursa hindlegs, his chest strapped to the makeshift Ursa's spine to keep him in place. In the front, Yang was secured to the huge fake paws of the Ursa, her back and legs in a harness further on the spine. She was tasked with offensive attacks and walking on her hands when not fighting, taking signals on when and where to attack from Nora, who was on her shoulders. Nora had been practicing Ursa roars, and was stationed in the head, giving Yang the appropriate nudges on where to walk, which paw to swing, and when to poke Ren to give him signals.

They had to act fast. Ms. Goodwitch would be coming to check on the students soon, and if she didn't find the trio soon and heard about them being sent to go find her, she'd become suspicious.

"Ready, Nora?" Yang called up, checking to see if Nora was ready.

In response, Nora growled, a near replication of the feared bear they were pretending to be, and dug her heels into Yang's shoulders, who dug her feet into Ren's with the poles she had strapped to her own feet.

All three charged out of the undergrowth, every inch the Ursa they made themselves out to be. Even from as far back as he was, he heard Cardin gasp. A shift in weight and the clang of a mace being knocked out of Cardin's hands told Ren that they had found their target.

Ren side-stepped in time with Yang's physical cues, helping turn the Trojan Ursa around likely cornering their prey against a tree. Raising his head, he saw Yang swing her left arm back, a reciprocating "oomph" from Cardin telling Ren that the paw had connected and knocked Cardin into a tree.

Ren took the prompted shove from Yang's feet, charging forward, his legs bowed to help resemble a real Ursa as he did. The goal was to tire Cardin out until he had only enough aura to sustain one more hit, just so he wouldn't recover enough and hopefully be insured not to go after Jaune – or anyone one – for a long time.

"Augh!" they heard Cardin cry out. "Dear God, I freaking hate Ursi!

Another swipe of Yang's arm brought another satisfying thud, and the jagged breathing of Cardin running away told Ren to pick up the pace. He dashed forward, his Ursa legs bounding across the soil in tandem with Yang's forepaws/arms, before Yang brought her right hand up, and smacked it down once more.

"Gaaah!" Cardin bellowed. "Not my legs!"

"Cardin?" A new voice called, belonging to Professor Goodwitch. _Shit, we gotta get out of here,_ Ren thought, turning the legs he controlled around as best he could. Turning 180 degrees, he ran as fast as he could, the sounds of Cardin yelling about another Ursa Major coming in and knocking him around before being scared away.

When Nora had determined the Trojan Ursa was out of sight and range, she slid off Yang, helping both the blonde and Ren down from their harnesses. Acting quickly, the three disposed of their masterpiece, hiding it in the undergrowth and doubled back, trying to make up precious ground to seem inconspicuous. Running in from the direction they left, they found the professor helping a bruised and battered Cardin to his feet, and a concerned Russel, Dove, and Sky standing nearby, trying to look supportive of their fallen leader. At the sound of another group of incoming students, Professor Goodwitch looked up.

"Ms. Xiao Long? Mr. Lie? Ms. Valkyrie? Where have you been? There's Ursi in the area, you should be headed back to the aircraft!"

Nora panted for breath, straightening up to address her nemesis. "We tried, Professor Goodwitch! We caught an Ursa Major running toward the aircraft, so we had to stop it before it got to the other students! We're so, so sorry, we hope nothing bad happened, is there anything –?"

"No, no, it's okay," Goodwitch sighed, motioning to Cardin. "It's just Mister Winchester here got both his legs broken by another Ursa Major just minutes ago." She pointed her wand to the carcass of Jaune's first kill. "One had tried to attack the group earlier, but thankfully it seems to have been taken care off by Mr. Arc." She shook her head in disbelief. "After all this time doubting him, he proves me wrong with an amazing victory…"

Cardin's head slumped forward at this, his ears burning red with same. Supported by the professor and Sky Lark, the mace wielder, hopefully no longer a bully, hobbled his way to the ramp where the other members of JNPR and RWBY were waiting. Yang jogged on ahead, likely to assure her sister that she was alright. Nora, however, stayed with Ren, which he was thankful for. He just wanted to at least be by his partner, and he felt better about Nora's recent absences. To talk in private, JNPR'S second half talked amongst themselves, away from the ears of Cardin and Goodwitch.

"So… this is what you were going in your free time?" he asked Nora, keeping his voice low.

"Yeah." She smiled, pride shining through her face. "Pretty cool, wasn't it?"

Ren nodded. "And that's why you've been sneaking out at night?"

Nora nodded, talking softly in case they were over heard. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted to keep it a surprise, and I knew if I told you you'd have told me I was being crazy and try and talk me out of it, and I really needed to do this, you know? Jaune's our leader; we can't let him get hurt like that and not try and defend him, or at least show his attackers that you can't mess with us."

Ren smiled. He didn't see eye to eye with Nora on a lot of things, but he saw the passion and integrity she put into her team, and he could respect her for that. And it wasn't just her devotion to her team mates, but that she could do so while being a bubbly asset that kept the team optimistic and out of self doubt.

Nora beamed again, arms pumped to the sky. "This day's been a blast from start to finish! And it's only going to get better from here!"

* * *

><p>"Four jars?! No wonder you're sick!"<p>

If Nora saw how green she was, she'd have a fit about how little pink was visible on her face. "But it was soooooo good," she croaked from her spot on the couch, curled up in a ball with the face of soul-crushing regret. "And now I won't be able to eat any of your delicious pancakes, Ren," she said sadly, her baby blues glazed slightly and staring straight forward.

Pyrrha was rubbing her back to try and comfort her, sitting next to Nora on the couch. Jaune had excused himself from the room to clear his head, promising he'd be less scarce from this point on. Pyrrha was in better spirits now, and had offered to soothe Nora so Ren could cook for the team. Still, Ren couldn't help but keep one eye on his lifelong friend as he smoothly flipped the flat cakes over. _She likes her stomach rubbed when she's sick,_ Ren mentally critiqued from his place in the kitchen, making pancakes for the rest of the team_. And it helps to hum for her, she likes soothing hums._ Instead of sharing his secrets of making Nora feel better with anyone, Ren added to the conversation. "The whole point was that you need to boil the sap in sugar to kill the germs, Nora. You can't eat that much of the sap and then run around all day and not expect to get stomach pains."

"Especially after a twenty-minute flight back home one a shaky aircraft. With turbulence, to boot," Pyrrha remarked, thoughtfully looking at the slowly growing plate of pancakes Ren was preparing. "How are the hotcakes coming, chef?" she asked cheerily.

Ren flashed a smile, having become more comfortable being more expressive around his team. "We've got enough for you, me, and Jaune, with some for Nora when she feels better."

"And did we get any syrup left over from when Professor Peach was done with it?"

Ren pointed to the half-filled jar of sweeter, thinner syrup that they had gotten back. "Yes, it's right over there. It's not enough, but if we use it sparingly, we should – NORA!"

The moment Ren had pointed, Nora had already zoomed over and gulped down all the syrup, heaving herself on the floor. "Ooooh," she groaned with pleasure, a blissful smile on her face. "That was sooo much better than the sap was." A belch ruptured through her speech, sending Nora back into the fetal position. "Uuuuugh," she moaned, now in pain and holding her stomach again. "I'm such an idiot..."

Pyrrha stifled a giggle, while Ren felt like tearing out his hair. "Nora! Come on! We'd to have liked to taste some it it!"

Sorry," Nora mumbled innocently, shame now mixing in with her pain-ridden expression.

Pyrrha got up, stepping around Nora to the door of their dorm. "I'm going to go get Jaune. See how he's doing and all." She looked at Ren, who occupied himself with stacking the pancakes onto four plates. "I take it I don't have to ask, do I?" she asked, a smile on her face.

Ren smirked back. "Of course I'll look after Nora," he said, already walking over to the Valkyrie girl. The door closed as Pyrrha walked out to be with her partner, leaving the two alone. Nora was still on the floor, moaning slightly. Ren put a hand to her forehead, relieved his friend hadn't caught a fever. He still had a sick Nora to deal with, even it would hopefully just be for tonight.

"What am I going to do with you?" Ren asked, scooping Nora up and carried her to the couch, despite her gleeful squeals of protest. He carefully set her down, sliding one of the pillows underneath her head as he pulled up a chair. Sitting down next to her, Ren started the usual remedy of softly humming a few notes to his little hammer girl, gently rubbing her stomach as he did so. He was rewarded with a satisfied high-pitched "mmmmm" from Nora, arching her back and stretching her arms; Ren felt himself blush as part of Nora's cleavage was exposed. I keep forgetting she isn't the little girl she used to be…

Now looking sleepier than anything, Nora laid back down, eyes closed and no longer curled into a ball. "I'm sorry I ate all that," Nora said apologetically. "You guys all probably wanted a taste of it… it was really good too."

"I'm sure it was, Nora," Ren said, now patting her on the head. "Don't worry too much about it, I'm sure the pancakes will taste just as good without syrup," Ren reassured her. He wanted her to know he wasn't angry at her, he just wanted her to get better.

"Of course they will! They're your special pancakes after all," Nora said, giving Ren a supportive grin from ear to ear.

"Is there anything else I can do to help you feel better?"

Nora looked like she was going to say something, but stopped herself, thinking better of it. "I think I just need to go to bed." She looked at her stomach, then back at Ren. "Could you walk me there? I'm not sure I can do it myself."

Ren hoisted Nora to her feet, carefully putting an arm around her waist. In turn, she slung an arm lazily around his shoulder, leaning on him for support. Carefully, they made their way step by step toward the bedrooms, Ren guiding Nora toward her sloppily made mattress. I keep telling her to make this, what if someone comes in and see's three perfectly made beds and one –?

"Nope," Nora interjected, stopping in her tracks. Ren, his train of thought crashing into an indiscernible heap, looked at Nora confused. "What do you mean 'nope'?"

"Not there," Nora said, instead pointing to the bed with the two green pistols resting on the pillow. "That one."

One half of Ren's brain screamed _No can do! She's sick, what it she throws up? You shouldn't let her, she may not sleep comfortably like that, you need to put aside your feelings and do what's best for Nora's health!_

"Please?" Nora peeped, giving Ren puppy dog eyes that appealed to the other half of his brain.

Ren sighed. He had to stop putting himself into corners like this. So, this was it. This was how they finally talked about Nora's habit of crawling into bed with him; Ren explaining to Nora that despite how much it meant to him, tonight she couldn't because she was sick, and when you're sick and you're stomach is disagreeable you need rest and as little movement as possible. Him telling her that she couldn't keep saying they weren't together-together and then showering him with so much affection, and doing something so personal and intimate as curling into bed with him at night.

"Please?"

_Ren. You know Nora. You're being selfish, you know that Nora has a different way of feeling better than you do._ Ren guided Nora to the right, earning a tight neck hug and squeal from Nora as he did so. _Nora likes being held, likes being comforted; stomach rubs help her aches, for crying out loud._ As per tradition, Ren got in first, and opened the covers up. _This may not be your way of dealing with sickness, but it's how she feels better. The stories and songs your mother may have sung to you when you had the flu may not have cured you, but the bitter medicine your father crammed in your mouth with a spoon didn't make you fall to sleep quicker or make you feel good enough to get out of bed the next day_. Nora softly crawled in, almost feline in nature, wrapping arms and – as Ren's nervous stutter quickly noticed – legs around the lotus boy, nuzzling her head into Ren's chest.

_Being a friend, not just Nora's friend, means you need to take make sacrifices. Some you can forgive, and others may go against some of your biggest personal convictions._

Nora lazily pulled off her tight battled top, revealing a low cut tank top underneath. Ren silently gulped as his best friend reached over and, muttering about how uncomfortable it felt, undid his jacket, pulling it off of him and snuggled her face into the crook of his neck, a happy sigh escaping her lips as her arms laced his neck.

Ren lay rather stiff of a few minutes, feeling immodest without his ever present jacket. He could feel Nora's ample chest through his thin black shirt, and his trousers felt suddenly very… _constrictive. _However, Ren released the breath he realized he had been holding, and carefully laid his arms around Nora's waist, rubbing her mid back for her to sleep quicker.

_And some of those deeply personal convictions,_ Ren's conscience told him, _are sometimes the ones we need to lay to rest._

* * *

><p>It was dark when Jaune and Pyrrha stumbled into the room, sore from their first training session on the roof. They had almost forgotten about the pancakes Ren had made, and felt bad for making their friends wait for so long.<p>

"I bet Nora probably ate half of the pancakes by now," Jaune said, unlacing his armor at the door. "She certainly has the appetite for it."

"Oh, I don't know," Pyrrha said, taking off her bracers and leg guards. "She had a stomach ache when we left, so she's probably still on the couch. But who knows," she said leaning Milo against the door frame, "she could have very well gotten better in the last two hours we were gone."

Jaune chuckled nervously; they had spent a lot of time on that rooftop. He strode into the living quarters, hoping his team mates weren't made at him. "Hello! Sorry for not coming in sooner, we had to… Oh."

To his and Pyrrha's surprise, the room was empty. Ren and Nora were nowhere to be seen. "Hellooo?" Jaune called out. "Anyone home?"

_"Jaune!"_ Pyrrha whispered, motioning for her partner to come look into the bedroom. In Ren's bed lay not only Ren, but Nora too; both intertwined in a tangle of arms and legs, fast asleep under their shared blankets. Jaune blushed a little, slowly closing the door to give the two friends privacy.

When the door was all the way closed and she was sure they weren't being watched, Nora went back to stroking Ren's pink streak; she was going to have to re-dye it tomorrow. "Good night Ren," Nora breathed into her teammate's fast asleep ear, rubbing her nose against his before adjusting herself so her head as on Ren's chest, his arms around the lower region of her waist. Shoving her arms under his chest, she pulled in close for a long nights sleep.

Ren, when he was sure his pretty pink girl was sleeping deeply, ruffled her hair and nuzzled her back, putting his hands back where Nora had placed them. "Sweet dreams, Nora" he whispered into her ear, laying back down for the night ahead.

Just before he dozed off, Ren felt his teammate smile into his chest.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Well, there we are! The Canon part of this story is complete! I felt a bit bad about how the action scene went, if you could even call that an action scene, and if felt cumbersome to write the ordeal from Ren's perspective, but I hope it was enjoyable! I'd appreciate any critics on my writing style specifically for the part in Forever Fall with Nora's plan; I'm not sure if I was clear on my direction for the story, or if it was engaging enough for you guys and girls to follow, so let me know what you thought!<strong>

**That aside, I felt like this had an important shift in Ren and Nora's friendship; the two are aware of their own feelings, and I think are coming to terms with what they think of the other and how to act from there. I'm going to flesh out more of their motivations, interactions between other characters, and you'll hopefully see more scenes like the one toward the end :D there's definitely going to be a lot of fluff going your way...**

**Thanks for staying tuned in to Thunder Flowers, it's a joy being here. If you have any questions or need clarification, you can always PM me and I'll feel free to clear anything up. **

**Happy Shipping!**

**~TheHemingwayDilemma**


	7. Chapter 7: Avoiding the Topic

**Author's Note: Long time no see, readers! As I said, I'll be very busy, but as promised, Chapter 7! Granted, it's short, and I think the next few chapters won't be as long as previous ones, but hey, we've officially moved on from the Canon part of RWBY and I am moving forward with the story! I had to edit this chapter and rehash what I wanted the story to look like, and I hope this matches up to my previous writing, but here we go!**

**Chapter 7: Avoiding the Topic**

"You wanted to see us, professor?"

Nora, Ren, Pyrrha and Jaune stood in front of Professor Ozpin, waiting the headmaster's message. Team JNPR was called in early that morning, their professors notified that the four young adults would not be at class for the day and would instead report for an alternative assignment.

Ozpin nodded thoughtfully, taking a swig from his coffee cup and smiling at Jaune. "That you are right about, Mr. Arc." Standing now, the grey-haired man walked over to his bookshelf, scanning a finger along the spines of the books. "If you recall, the recent attacks of the White Fang and that Torchwick fellow have devastated many areas of the city of Vale. Team RWBY helped momentarily stop their raids for more dust, but the criminal has still eluded the law's grasp."

"So where do we come in?" Pyrrha asked politely, hands tucked behind her back in proper military fashion. Nora hastily followed suit, hoping her mimicry of the Spartan's second-nature military stance would boost her reputation as more than just a brawling warrior without a plan.

Ozpin tossed a thin book onto his desk, its cover bearing the visage of a woman clothed in red, her eyes glowing an unearthly shade of gold. "I have reasons to believe that this woman, Cinder Fall as she is referred to, is the true mastermind behind the raids, and uses Torchwick as a pawn in her schemes." Ozpin leaned his arms against the desk, eyeing the four first-years down with friendly authority. "Not many of my first year teams are as prolific or well-seasoned the way you and Team RWBY are. I would normally send out teams that have been active for four or three years, as they are more experienced than you and could handle a situation like his with more ease. On that note, however, I have gained much faith in your abilities and wish to see them progress even further. I am giving you four a week long mission to scope out potential hide outs Torchwick might be using. If we find him, we find Cinder." The grey and green clad professor handed Jaune a small Scroll with the school's crest on it. "I'm asking that you find where the criminal is hiding out, and once he is subdued and spills information, call me on this Scroll to let me know what Cinder's plan is, how he fits in, and where he is. We will from there notify Remnant's police forces of where to strike."

The headmaster slid over a map with various regions circled, lines slashing across the paper to display routes to take or connection between cities. Jaune Arc humble scooped the map up, skimming it over before saluting to Ozpin. "We won't disappoint you sir! We'll start our mission as soon as we pack, change out of our uniforms, and ready our weapons!" His courageous showcase faltered, the blonde nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "Um, that is, unless you have a better time set? Do you want us to, uh, meet anywhere first…?"

Professor Ozpin smiled. "Mr. Arc, you are the leader for your team; I give you leave to head out on your mission today as you see fit." He looked out the window into the mid-morning light. "You might want to not draw time out, though – you're first location is a two hour train ride and you'll want to cover some ground today."

"Oh, right! Apologies, sir!" Jaune fumbled out, awkwardly walking out of the office. "Let's go… team! We, uh, got to get moving and, uh… stuff." Jaune left the office, hangs wrung and face a deep red. Pyrrha, his partner, smiled to herself as she strode on out comfortable, thanking Ozpin for everything, and dashed off to tell Jaune the dorm was in the other direction.

Nora caught Ren's eyes, giving the still-sleeping boy her biggest smile before pumping her professor's hand excitedly. "Thank you for the mission, sir! We'll get out there and take those pesky criminals down, you'll see! Won't we, Ren?"

Ren merely brushed himself off. "I'm sure we'll do our best, Professor" Ren said curtly, bowing to Ozpin before turning to go. "Come on Nora, we got work to do."

Nora felt her heart sink a little; fortunately, despite Ren's often apathetic and sometimes disheartening lack of amusement at her antics, Nora was the perpetual optimist that balanced out his self-inflicted-pessimism. "Coming, Ren!" Nora chirped giddily, skipping out of the room after her lanky buddy.

Thankfully, Ren walked just fast enough for him to stay by Nora's side, and she in turn skipped slower to not outpace her mellow friend. Pyrrha led an embarrassed Jaune to join the two in their walk back to the dorm, the team falling together into a single line. Nora, already feeling the excitement course through her veins, turned to Ren in excitement. "We got our first mission Ren! I can't believe Ozpin trusts us with a super important mission like this! I mean we might not even find them, and I hope we don't die or anything, but it's still a mission, you know? Maybe we'll help stop Cinder Fall from blowing everything up all the time! Or we'll find Torchwick and stop him from stealing dust all the time! Don't you think it's weird that he's out being a criminal? He looked really young in those pictures on the news, isn't he pretty? I mean maybe not super attractive, and I know you wouldn't find him attractive, but he just has that pretty kind of face, you know? Long lashes, his green eyes, he just has that pretty boy kind of face."

Ren didn't really say anything; at this point Ren would normally have interrupted with something to say, but he just nodded and kept walking. Instead, Pyrrha gave Nora a light shove, smiling amicably at her hammer wielding friend. "Sounds like this Roman guy has been on your mind a lot, Nora. Would you say you have… I don't know, a crush?"

Nora laughed good-naturedly, giving Pyrrha a shove back; _Of course I need to push lighter than she did, I'm probably stronger than her,_ she thought happily to herself. "Ha! Roman's a bad guy, I just think his face is pretty." She grinned manically, fists balled up in proper Nora fashion. "It just makes it more satisfying to _crush_ him with my hammer and do my job as a huntress! He's out there using awesome weapons and making awesome conquest plans and looking really cute? And he isn't even being a nice guy about it? Someone _has_ the put that meanie in his place, he can't let is bad-boy attitude fuel his good looks like that! It should be a crime! Wait, then he'd be breaking more laws and hurting more people, which only adds to his looks and attitude even more! Darn it! Now I'm only making him even more powerful and we'll never beat him!"

"Nora?"

Her hearts skipped a beat, and as Nora stopped her zooming around the hallway to stand at her best friend's side, she had to contain all of her excitement from gushing out and hugging Ren in such a soul-crushingly obvious together-together way. "Yes Ren?" she asked sweetly as her longtime lotus boy pulled out the room key, hanging on his every word.

"Torchwick won't stand a chance against you." Sliding the key into the door, Lie Ren walked in casually, not seeing the look of adoration in Nora's eyes as he strode in to get ready for the mission. To him, it might have been a casual compliment, an encouraging word to quiet Nora's nervous racing mouth or let her remember that she was just a good as fighter as she said she was.

To Nora, it was everything in the world stopping for one boy.

* * *

><p>That afternoon as Team JNPR boarded their train for the city of Vale, Nora Valkyrie watched as students waved from the platform that slowly inched past her in the window. Team RWBY was there, cheering and screaming for their friends to "have fun" and "stay safe" and "kick some butt". Ozpin and Glynda were there as well, as were Velvet Scarlatina (who had been thankful to Jaune for stopping her usual bullying at the hands of Team CRDL), Cardin Winchester (the bully, still in a wheelchair after Nora's still unknown revenge plan, had gained the utmost respect for Jaune and wished him luck) and Professor Port (who had been one of Pyrrha's sponsors during her time at Sanctum and wanted to see her off). Nora waved excitedly at Yang before settling down in her seat next to Ren, glancing excitedly around their cabin.<p>

"Isn't this exciting Ren? We get to take a train to our first mission! I've only been on a train a few times, and they weren't ever as fancy as this one is!" Jaune's moan of pain brought Nora out of her reverie, both her and Ren looking over that their blonde leader with concern. He was laying down across his seat and Pyrrha's, his head cradled on a thoroughly embarrassed and yet (if Nora knew any better) delighted Pyrrha's lap, his eyes wide and his face a sickly shade of soft green. His partner, her cheeks burnt red and her nervous smile betraying her, tried to make it better for him by rubbing his shoulder. "Jaune," she said hesitantly, "do you get sick on every kind of transportation?"

Jaune nodded feebly, curling up into a tighter ball. "Sorry," he muttered, hiccupping sadly. "I've tried everything, but I can't help it. Motion sickness just always happens to me and I – ugh…?" Jaune stopped talking, his eyes glazed over as the train made another turn.

Nora couldn't help but giggle, poking Ren to get his attention away from the window. "I think Jaune needs to get some fresh air, don't you think so, Pyrrha?" Nora asked, smiling widely as she found another way to pair Jaune and Pyrrha up. "He looks really sick, right Ren? I think he needs to go catch a breath out on the deck, wouldn't you say?" Thankfully, Ren looked Jaune over and nodded, returning his gaze to the trees and mountains speeding by the window.

Pyrrha, taking the opportunity to hoist Jaune up, helped the nauseous boy out of the room, excusing themselves with a polite wave from Pyrrha and a low groan from Jaune. As the two laundered out of the room, Nora giggled at Ren, siding up to him and cupping a hand over his ear. _"They like each other,"_ she whispered, knowing all too well how much of a school girl she sounded like.

Ren stoically nodded, leaning over to whisper back at Nora. "I'm certain everyone on campus knows it… except for them of course."

"I know," Nora smiled; she was so glad her friend was humoring her little whispering-antic. "I mean she obviously wants to help him be a great warrior, and I've seen the way they look at each other when the other isn't, but I think there's much more to it!"

"Is that why you sent them away to get some 'fresh air'?" Ren said, his wry smile gracing the sides of his mouth.

"Yeah, I really want them to see how much the other likes them! I mean, if two people are so head over heels for each other, they should just say it, you know?"

Ren thought for a moment. "But they've only known each other for a few months. It takes a while to build a friendship, let alone fall in love with someone."

"I know, but if two people seem so much happier together than they are apart, does it matter if they've known each other forever or for only a few months? Jaune and Pyrrha may be different on so many levels, but it's not like they don't see that and love each other for bringing something new to their lives. I mean, wouldn't a relationship be even better than just staying friends for anyone?" Slowly, Nora realized what she had said in that one breath and felt her cheeks burning. Were they talking about their fellow team mates… or something else entirely?

Ren felt the shift too, slumping back in his seat. He was obviously at a loss for words, and to her disappointment his usual emotionless mask crawled back over what once was an astonished and maybe even hopeful gape. Nora sat up a little straighter, clasping her hands over her skirt, legs dangling over the edge of the seat. It felt like an eternity before Jaune and Pyrrha came back in, Jaune only a little less green and stable enough to give Pyrrha's lap a vacancy. "Well, the air did him good, that was for sure; he managed not to throw up and even got a drink of water while he was up." Pyrrha saw the two friend's solemn expressions, and at a shake of Nora's head the Spartan decided to talk with her about it later. "So, Jaune," Pyrrha asked, "about our strategies for finding Roman – Jaune?"

Jaune had fallen asleep, his peaceful face and soft snores putting a smile on his partner's face. "Actually," she said softly, leaning back in her own chair, "why don't we follow our leader's advice and catch some shut eye? We've got an hour or two before we arrive in the city; might as well catch up on our sleep while we can."

As Pyrrha settled into her seat, Nora looked at Ren, who was adjusting his own seat to rest properly. Every heartstring was straining to wrap her arms around the boy she loved, but everything seemed so… awkward now. She didn't know if he loved her the way he did, or what affect her speech had on him, but they had treaded onto the thin ice of their relationship and what they wanted out of it. Nora resigned herself to sinking low in her seat, willing herself to dream and get away from the gnawing feelings in her stomach.

She knew in her heart she wanted to be more than platonic with her beloved lotus boy; she knew very well that Ren was the only person she felt 100 percent truly comfortable with; and she knew that she wanted to stay by his side for as long as she lived, for better or for worse.

The only thing that held her back now was one question: _Did Ren?_


	8. Chapter 8: Investigating Motive

**Chapter 8: Investigating Motives**

_The train pulled into its station at two in the afternoon, brakes squealing as the wheels ground to a halt. As the sleek glass doors slid open, streams of people filed out, pooling out of the doors like blood from a fresh wound. The conductor stood watching, making sure that no one was shoving too hard and that all the passengers made it out safely. It had been a long ride from the station just west of Beacon, and he was all too aware of the few young passengers rushing out to meet parents or old friends. He himself was an alumni of the school, having long since retired to act as a guide those traversing his brother's locomotive. He was sure any student boarding this train was surely happy to get off and see the world._

_A uniform clad blonde of a sickly green changed his mind, as the youth slumped off the car, only walking by the help of a red-haired beauty supporting him and smiling sleepily. The man smiled, his eyes crinkling not just from age; he saw the supportive and loving look in her eyes, and the look of embarrassment and thankfulness in the boy's. _Young love,_ he thought, wishing them and all others the best at finding their soul mate._

_Shortly after the two had made their way off, the conductor noticed two other students step off the train; both in uniform, one an orange haired girl and the other a tall, lanky brunette with a dash of pink. Both of them wore embarrassed, almost distant looks in their eyes, silently carrying two pieces of luggage each. You would have thought they were on their way to a funeral, the thespian thought, watching them join up with their partners. _

_As the foursome ambled away, the elder man watched as the black haired boy silently moved his hand to grab the hand of the orange haired girl next to him, stopped, and sadly dropped his own at his side._

* * *

><p>The group had arrived at the first location on Ozpin's list, now back into their combat gear with weapons out. Jaune had recovered from his previous bought of motion sickness and had busied himself with going over the map, walking down the street looking up and down the warehouse, hoping to find a way in past the barred entrance. Pyrrha was over by Nora, both of whom were deep in conversation while walking around the building's exterior, looking for weak spots and potential entry ways.<p>

Ren, however, was leaning on a post next to Jaune, fiddling with Stormflower absently. Things had gotten awkward between him and Nora when they had been discussing their fellow teammate's obvious attraction to each other. It had almost seemed like Nora had… Ren didn't want to believe it, but he was beginning to think she had been trying to tell him she liked him.

Ren hadn't wanted to believe it, and didn't know what to say afterward, leading to more awkwardness. He didn't know how to properly communicate to her that he wasn't sure if it was the best idea despite his love for her, but keeping quiet only added to what he suspected was the thought that he didn't feel the same way. Half of him felt a rush of sheer exhilaration at her pseudo-proposal to finally be together-together, but the other half quickly extinguished that hope with his fear and the usual whispers of doubt and denial.

"R-Ren?"

Jaune's shaky voice caught Ren's attention. Lifting his head to eye JNPR's leader and Ren's work out partner, the lotus boy sheathed Stormflower, crossing his arms as he turned to face Jaune. "Yes?"

The blonde gestured to the building the only recently arrived at. "I'm thinking we're going to need to get to the roof if we want to sneak in unnoticed. I'm trying to brainstorm ideas on how to get up there but nothing's coming to me. Can you think of anything?"

Ren, while glad to have a distraction, wasn't as enthused about the idea and wasn't trying all that hard to strategize. "Aside from using our blades to dig into the building and climb our way up that way, I don't really see many options. It would be easier to me to use Stormflower, but I think you and Pryrrha would have trouble getting up using your swords. Nora might be able to launch herself with her hammer…" even saying Nora's name brought a smile to Ren's lips; he recalled her slamming her hammer to the ground to fly up great heights, shrieking with delight as she flew into the heavens. The smile drooped a little more as Ren remembered his feelings for her, and his voice sunk a little more as he spoke to Jaune. "But yeah, I don't see much else we can do."

Jaune cleared his throat. "Jaune, about Nora - "

"What about her? Ren snapped, uncharacteristically touchy about the subject. Jaune jumped a little before resuming.

"You two seem a little… distant," Jaune said. By his wrung hands and nervous voice, Ren could tell Jaune felt like he was walking on egg shells to talk to his friend. "I mean, you're normally this quiet, but you seem to give off this really negative vibe, and Nora… I mean she doesn't skip when she walks, she hardly smiles, she's just overall the most downcast I've seen her. Are you two doing alright?"

Ren huffed, hoping Jaune meant what he was getting into. While he was more comfortable talking to Pyrrha about this kind of issue, the pink-eyed boy knew he was going to need to bond with Jaune more as the years went on; they were the only guys on Team JNPR, let alone in the RWBY/JNPR Alliance. "Are you asking this as a leader?" Ren tested, wanting to know Jaune's motives about this.

Jaune cleared his throat. "I'm asking as a friend, Ren. And I want to help you out with whatever it is that's bothering you. Not just for the good of the team, but for the good of you and your best friend."

Satisfied, Ren slumped against the post, midafternoon sun drawing his shadow long against the rusted cobblestones. "While you and Pyrrha were out getting fresh air, Nora and I had a conversation that ended with something about two friends being more than friends, if you get where I'm going." He toyed idling with the pink strand of hair, a habit formed over the years when he was in deep thought or sharing what bothered him. "I honestly think she might have feelings for me, and I really don't want to move past what we have now. I panicked and didn't know how to reply to what she said, and I think by keeping quiet I might have hurt her in some way."

Jaune nodded, a small smile starting to grow on his face. "Well, she certainly is fond of you, that's for sure. She is a fun girl to hang around, and if you've been friends for as long as you have, if you just sit her down and tell her you don't feel the same way and that you want to just stay friends she should understand. I mean she'll hurt a little, but everything should go back to normal."

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Ren said, looking a little off to the side as he felt the blonde boy's pale blues quirk into a question.

"How? What else is there that's complicated? You like someone else or something?"

Ren shook his head, his heart picking up speed as he willed himself to share his biggest secret with someone outside his own mind.

"The problem is, I've been in love with Nora for seven years."

* * *

><p>"Wait, seven years? You've loved her that long? Than how come this is such a big deal? I mean, if it's been that long I don't get how you wouldn't want to date her or anything, you two would be great together!"<p>

Ren nodded his head, sadly confirming what Jaune had been jabbering on about since Ren had spilt his guts about Nora. Pushing the pink strand away from his equally pink eyes, the youngest Lie heaved a sigh. "I know, I know, I hear that all the time and I want to, but I can't."

"Why not? You've been friends for ages, why wouldn't you ask her out? Are your parent's not supportive of relationships? Are hers? What's holding you back?"

Ren thought about that for a minute before selecting the proper one word answer. "Myself," he breathed defeated.

Jaune looked puzzled. "So you haven't worked up the courage to ask her, or –"

"I mean, I can't trust myself to do this." Ren held a hand up, cutting off Jaune's sure to be asked question. Turning to look at one of the building's further away, Ren stared out into nothing, his magenta eyes reflecting the light as he started his story. "Since I was little, Nora and I have been thick as thieves. We've been best friends since the first day of school back in kindergarten, and moved next to each other shortly after. We've played together, gotten into trouble together, she even started to sleep next to me when she had nightmares. Well, she still does, but that's besides the point."

"Then what is the point?" Jaune asked. "If Nora and you are so close, what is is about yourself that you don't trust?"

Ren kicked a stone that was near his foot, the clicking sound as it skipped down the concrete echoing through the silence. "My mom loves Nora, loves the joy she's brought to our house, loves who I've become thanks to her. My dad –" here a head shake emphasized his point "- not so much. He's very… traditionalistic and rigid, and threatened to have us move away because of her antics. She was one of the things that got my parent's to start fighting over the years; they've moved onto other things since, Nora having grown more mature and less of a problem for them." Ren paused to gather this thoughts, thinking about those sleepless nights and the times he wished Nora hadn't been so... Nora

"But my mom and dad are so miserable with each other, regardless of anything Nora did. They had been good friends here at Beacon when they first joined, fell in love and everything. You'd have thought they were meant to be together if you didn't compare them to how they are now, bickering and swearing by night as day is filled with the worst silence you could imagine. I try to help my mom but… but she does two good a job bottling it all in. She's too nice to let him get away with being so selfish and so blindly idealistic, but doesn't have the heart to divorce him and have a custody battle.

"It isn't just my parents," Ren continued, surprising his leader with how much he was talking. "My uncles all are bitter towards their wives, and my grandfather left my grandmother years before I was born. Even my older cousins were abusive towards what girlfriends they haven't already been dumped by. I look at them at family reunions and can't imagine that at one point anyone in my family, any of the men who have come before me.

"Jaune, my problem isn't that I don't want to date Nora, nor that I don't think we could work out for the long run. I'm not even resentful towards her for anything she might have done to my parent's marriage. My problem," here marked one of the few times Ren's voice trembled with emotion, "is that I see no way for me to escape this endless cycle of crumbling marriages and nonexistent love. If I end up being like that to Nora… I would rather never feel her love than to destroy it by moving past where we are now."

Exhausted by his speech but refusing to show it, Ren stared down at his feet, waiting for Jaune to say something. Minutes passed and neither boy said a word. Jaune was too blown away by this revelation to say anything to Ren, and Ren was in no mood to share anything else, lest he go off the deep end.

Their moment of silence was interrupted by Pyrrha, who walked up with Nora in tow. "We've found a way into the building; we should get going if we're going to investigate anything today."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Okay, so this chapter is nowhere near as long as previous chapters. I think 1-6 were longer thanks to that 3-day weekend and my not having started school, so the most recent ones were out with less content and farther apart. I'm a bit overwhelmed with college, but fear not; more will come when I can manage my time and not be so hard on myself with artwriting! Heck, I might even through in some fan art as a little closing piece when this series is over (which will be a long time, so don't fret)**

**Hope to keep you entertained, and my the Good Ship Renora keep on sailing!**


	9. Chapter 9: Progressive Course of Action

**Chapter 9: Progressive Course of Action**

Slipping in through the basement window first, Nora Valkyrie landed in a crouch, heart rattling in her chest. She had found the unlocked entryway and taken full advantage of getting her team inside, hoping this was the place they were looking for. As Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren filed in behind her, Nora waved her team ahead as they took their unspoken positions of power: Jaune in the front, Ren close behind, Nora at the middle, and Pyrrha bringing in the rear.

Nora's hastily applied blush was made irrelevant by her own cheeks naturally heating up as she found herself once again by her longtime friend and love interest, Lie Ren. The boy who had done more than put up with her these long years; the boy she saw grow into a young man alongside her; the boy who stood by her side and built her up when even the ever-chipper Nora had lost hope.

The boy she felt she might have pushed away.

Hot-red embarrassment flickered in Nora's heart as she remembered how heated she had gotten and her accidental almost confession to Ren that she wanted more out of their friendship. The idea of being together-together with someone had been on Nora's list of things to do almost after Ren was added to the same list. She couldn't help it sometimes; she saw how happy her parents were together, with their affection and hugs and cute nicknames; why couldn't she have something like that with Ren?

Jaune held a hand up, signaling for the team to freeze. Nora had been so lost in her head she almost didn't hear what was going on. Now that her thoughts were clear, she heard it too – the distant mechanical whir of machinery and muffled voices barking orders. Having come to the end of the hall, Jaune motioned for Ren to scout ahead. Being the quietest and most observant, Ren was usually tasked with sneaking around and bringing back the necessary information for Jaune to use in his next battle strategies.

As Ren walked off, Nora felt a small burst of pride simultaneous to an overwhelming explosion of regret. Ren had grown to be so independent and self-driven, nothing like the fretful boy who tried to hide his talents in the shadows next to his pink eyes and sweet attitude. While Nora knew she was partially the cause of Ren's confidence, she felt remorseful that she had let him stay as quiet as he was without giving him a time to open up to her as much as he may have needed it. He didn't seem to want to talk to Nora about what was going on, or his feelings about her outburst; if Nora knew Ren as much as she wanted, she was sure that he was going to hold it in and she'd be on the outside _again_.

As the minute passed, Pyrrha reached over and gave Nora's hand a squeeze. Nora smiled at her friend through the dark; the two had done a lot of talking while Jaune and Ren explored the opposite side of the building. "He'll still be your friend no matter what. You know that, right?" the Spartan whispered in Nora's ear.

The Valkyrie girl hesitated. "But will we be the same as before?" Nora asked back, hushed voice rich with the fear that she had held on the tip of her tongue since talking with Ren earlier that day. She knew her and Ren would come through this weird patch; they always did. But Nora couldn't let their friendship be just that; a regular friendship. She'd miss being the receipt of his rare knowing smirks, the one he'd hold onto when the demons he wouldn't speak of got the best of him; the girl who could slide in bed next to him and wake up in his comforting arms. If she lost that, she'd have lost one of the most important parts of herself that couldn't be replaced with anyone else.

Pyrrha put a comforting hand on Nora's shoulder, offering some less comforting words of wisdom. "That's something you need to find out for yourself."

* * *

><p>Sure enough, Ren returned to the team, grim pink eyes bearing news as the rest of JNPR gathered around to hear. Sitting cross-legged next to Jaune, Ren gave his outline of what he saw while on patrol. "This may not be where we can find Roman, but he certainly has power here. This could very well be a warehouse for his weaponvehicle storage, by the looks of the workmen below." Using his finger in the dirty floor below them, Ren drew up a crude map of the warehouse. "So we are here," he pointed to the hallway they had come in, "and if we keep to our left we're going to go up to a walkway that leads to the floor of the main room, coming in through a small holding pen. We'll be protected by a metal gating in the floor, and so long as we keep quiet we should be able to sneak in. I was able to get a peek and now there are at least three dozen men working on Roman's airships. There's likely weapons in there was well, and enough room for one of the ships to fly around in."

"How many ships do you think there were?" asked Pyrrha thoughtfully.

Ren shook his head, the pink streak Nora put in tickling the side of his face. "I wasn't sure, but it looked like maybe five, possibly seven."

Jaune drew in a sharp breath, leaning back on his haunches to think for a minute. Nora already felt the adrenaline rush and anticipation of a fight course in her veins. She loved this part, this calm before the storm, with Jaune laying out a battle strategy that she may or may not remember long enough before launching into her own plan of attack. Finally, her leader spoke up.

"Alright, if that's the case, we'll need the element of surprise on our side. Nora, you'll do that by launching a grenade angled up and through the grating, hopefully hitting one of the airships or maybe a chunk of the wall. This should get them distracted but also muffle the sound of Crocea Mors cutting through the grating itself so we can all get through. With their attention on Nora's grenade, that leaves us to infiltrate and try to find the leader of this joint. Ren, were you able to see anyone who looked like they were in authority?" Jaune said, addressing his fellow male and scout with the last statement.

Ren's brow furrowed for a moment, Nora recognizing it as his concentration face, before the lotus boy nodded in agreement.

"Your job is to find him and secure him before he gets away. Find out anything you can from him, just don't hurt the guy." Now Jaune turned to Nora, who smiled gleefully as she awaited her assignment. "Nora?"

The Valkyrie threw up a comical salute. "Yes sir!"

"Uh… just do your normal deal, you know, hit some people and cause confusion. Oh! And try to also focus on maybe hitting some of the aircraft, specifically engines and propellers, we don't want those getting in on the action."

"Okie dokes!" Nora quipped happily, already holding Magnhild in hammer form.

"Easy Nora," Pyrrha said, motherly smile and slightly raised hand bringing a giggle from Nora as she obeyed. With a grateful nod to his lieutenant, Jaune continued.

"Pyrrha, you and I are going into basic combat mode. Fend off people where we can, stop them from escaping, maybe find out exactly what's going on. I'll try and meet with Ren once he nabs the head of this operation; that way I can try and figure out where Torchwick is and if he's been here." Jaune smiled triumphantly, than hesitated and glanced a Pyrrha. "How was that?" he whispered, even if everyone was close enough to hear.

Pyrrha reached over and placed a hand on top of Jaune's bringing a loud blush to his face. "You are going great Jaune; don't doubt yourself."

"Thanks," Jaune smiled, his eyes on the ground as he stood up. "Alright, uh, well then, let's do this." Obviously, her leader was going to need to work on his speaking skills and motivation. But Nora didn't care too much; she knew Jaune was trying, and she was behind him 100 percent.

_Wait… if I'm behind him 100 percent, should I stand right behind him, or does that just mean I need to be aligned exactly behind him as they walked? _Nora started thinking to herself as the team got up and started walking down the hall. _Because I need to be behind him 100 percent, but does that work in, like, actual standing? And what does it look like if I'm behind him 50 percent? Is that even such a thing? So then why does 100 percent make so much more sense? Is it because it means the same as all the way, or – ? _"Ooph! Hey!" Nora felt someone pat her shoulder.

"You were lost in thought again," Ren hushed, snapping Nora back to reality. They had reached the dead-end/basement entry, and it was her time to execute her part of the plan.

"Oh," Nora whispered, shifting her weapon into a grenade launcher. "Thanks Ren," she breathed back, grateful that her companion could read her like a book and help her stay focused. Staring down the sights of her beloved weapon, Nora pinpointed just the right angle of a shot so that the canister would shoot right through the widely spaced grating and hit the far wall.

Jaune unsheathed his ancient sword, hand up as everyone prepped for their duties. "Ready in three –"

"TOOSLOWONE!" Nora whisper yelled as she slammed the trigger and sent the projectile spiraling perfectly through the grating and into the concrete wall opposite them.

Despite Nora's timing change, Jaune sliced through the grating and punched it up just as the grenade exploded in a screaming cloud of pink, drawing the attention of the crew away from the incoming fighters. As one or two men hit the deck, Nora Valkyrie barreled past her leader, eager to get out into the fray. With a giggle and an outstretched hammer, Nora's eyes blazed turquoise fire.

_It's Hammer Time!_

* * *

><p>Nora deftly leapt onto one of the crates someone had just finished loading, bringing the hammer down onto a recently finished engine. Almost instantaneously, she smartly jabbed thug running up at her in the stomach with the handle of her weapon. Without a second thought, she leapt off the crate, slapping her hammer into the dead center of an aircraft propeller, detonating a grenade at the same time. Shrapnel flew outward in an explosion of electricity, causing Nora to duck and roll under the airship's wing to safety.<p>

Dashing off to the next ship, Nora caught sight of Pyrrha and Jaune fighting side by side, grappling against a cluster of hopelessly out-skilled men in red and black. Smiling at her team doing so well, she smashed the head of a hammer into a table, sending the hunk of wood and metal crashing into three men who were drawing weapons on the battle crazed hammer wielder.

Skipping between two ships, Nora finally caught sight of Ren dashing after a tall, muscled man. The two were running across a narrow foot bridge, scaffolding really, suspended just 20 feet from the ceiling; both of the men's weight was causing the contraption to shake. Following the bridge's path, Nora caught sight of an open window at the end of the walkway, a helicopter floating just beyond it. Hefting Magnhild higher and shifting from the hammer function to grenade launcher, Nora shot a round straight and true into the window, hopefully hitting the escape vehicle and deterring the pilot. Knowing Ren could handle her next plan, Nora shot one more canister of Dust at the base of the structure, blowing the walkway to smithereens. Ren's target skidded to a halt, trying to double back but hardly making it past the lotus boy, who deftly grabbed the much larger man around the waist and flung himself over the edge as the bridge collapsed below him.

"Ren!" Nora called out, heart stopping as she saw Ren do nothing to halt his decent. She knew he was a quick thinker, but that didn't mean she still worried about him making it through a fight.

Fortunately, Lie Ren twisted in the air just above one Torchwick's airships, sliding down the sleek metal frame on his feet. Crouching to bear the weight of his passenger, Ren shifted enough so that the man he had been holding by the torso now slid on his back next to him. Just as the two neared the front of the ship and the end of their ride, the master hunter activated his aura, launching himself up and onto the cockpit of the adjacent copter. His passenger, however, continued to slide, and with an angry yelp landed atop a desk, a sickening crunch of wood echoing the much quieter warehouse.

Nora stood agape, amazed at Ren's aeronautic gymnastics. She had almost forgotten how skilled her friend as and how in control of nearly every battle situation he could be. Jaune, an equally impressed expression on his face, jogged up with Pyrrha on his heels. "I thought I said for you not to hurt him," Jaune said calmly, staring down at the dazed man sprawled on the thankfully empty work table.

Ren nodded. "Before he fell I pumped him some of my aura to brace him for the fall." Clearly tired from the exchange, Ren precariously leaned against the work table. "All I found out was that his name is Junior. I think he works alongside Roman, or for him… still not sure exactly what his role is."

"Well, he's coming to consciousness," Pyrrha noted as the burly man's chest heaved, breath coming I ragged behind his beard. As the man's eyes flickered open, Nora took a step back. _Big guy, beard, silly name… do I know him from somewhere?_

Still dazed, "Junior" sat up, blinking his eyes in frustration. "Ugh… freakin' kids…" When his vision cleared, his face fell again. "Aw crap, not more –"

WHUMP. Out of nowhere, Jaune slammed Junior back down on the table, earning a start from his other teammates. "Jaune!" Pyrrha gasped, taken aback by her leader's sudden act of violence. Jaune merely gave her a stern look and a soft smile, squeezing her shoulder before returning to his captive. "Listen, we don't want trouble, okay? Just tell us your connection to Torchwick and we'll let you go scot-free, okay?"

Junior laughed, a sharp bark rich with discord. "Hah! Nice try kid, but you don't scare me. Scrawny little punk like you aren't worth my time." Suddenly Nora remembered the name and face – Junior Xiong, from one of Yang's stories! He was a mobster or something who knew too much, Yang had to face him down in his club or something. An idea came to Nora and she pushed her way past Jaune, wicked thunder in her eyes.

"Was Yang Xiao Long worth your time?" Nora asked, mischief and sweetness blended in her voice.

That got Junior interested, his eyes widening for a split second before trying to maintain his facade of control of the situation. "Xiao Long? I, er, haven't heard the name. You must have me mistaken for – OUGH!"

Nora had grabbed ahold of Junior's more… well, sensitive regions, just as Yang had mentioned she did when prying information from the brute. As much as it disgusted her to do this (and the rest of her team, by a gasp from Pyrrha and confused noises from Ren and Jaune) but they needed to know how to find Torchwick. Putting on her best mean face, Nora leaned in close to Junior's now scrunched up mug.

"Listen Shorty, we're on an important mission. I know you know where Torchwick is, and I know about your defeat at my friend Yang's hands. Now," the twist of her hand earning her a squeak from the now not-so-manly man, "you're gonna tell me very thing you know – his plan, his hide out, his ties to Cinder Fall, and how you fit into all this. And you're going to do this now, or I'm going to have to break your legs." An wholly uncharacteristically acidic smile crept onto Nora's face. "You don't want to get beaten by _two_ girls now, would you?"

Junior gulped, fear obvious in his eyes. "Look lady, I don't know anything, okay? I-I'm trying to start back up since Yang tore down my club. I just run this factory, no ties to –"

Nora whipped out Magnhild, hammer outstretched in anticipation. "You know I really will break your legs, right?" she asked coldly, smile still plastered on her face. She saw the horrified, surprised, and yet awed faces of her teammates; she paid no mind, she had a job to do and being crazy was part of it.

Junior still didn't believe it. "You-you wouldn't." To be sure he turned his head toward's Jaune. "Would she?"

Jaune, recovering from shock, folded his arms and smiled smugly. "Well… only if I let her. I am her leader after all."

Nora grinned at this. "See? If you want you can tell Big Man Jaune here all you like, you don't even have to look at me." Nora gave Magnhild an experimental swing. "Of course, I'm a bit screw loose sometimes; who knows when I'll jump the gun…"

Junior looked back and forth, caught between the blonde and the crazy girl with a vice-like grip on his nether. "O-okay, fine… Look, I just supply Roman his weapons, I'm not involved in his plans, and I don't know what this Cinder wants with him. I doubt even he knows… a-and I'm not sure where Roman's right now, he always moves around…"

Nora raised her hammer just above her prisoner's knee caps. "Jaune?"

The blonde nodded. "Go for it."

Nora smashed the hammer down, and even thought she froze just above his knees, it gave her the inventive she needed.

"ALRIGHT! Alright! 8463 Romeo Way, about ten miles east of here, that's his headquarters! He's planning something big, I swear to Dust all I know is he's been working with the White Fang on something big, I just supply him with what he needs! I got nothing else for you kids, just don't break my legs!"

Nora grinned. "Thank you for your work, Mr. Xiong." Letting him go, Nora skipped away, back to her old chipper self. Jaune and Pyrrha cast a glance at the man heaving for breath on the desk, shrugged, following Ren away from the scene.

The four, with everything they needed to move on, trudged through the rubble of broken machinery, semi-conscious henchmen, and ruined aircraft. Nora felt proud of herself; she didn't think she had the guts to stand up to a big, burly guy like that, let alone subdue him. She could totally make a living out of this kind of thing. Nora the Enforcer… the name certainly had a ring to it. Nora smiled, oblivious to her surroundings as she skipped to the exit, caught up in her new dreams of flying down on Magnhild, making criminals cower before her, being the Bad Cop to Ren's Good Cop, stopping only when she heard their pitiful pleas for –

"NORA!"

Before she had time to react to her name being shouted, Nora was plowed over and pinned to the ground four feet from where she was just standing. That same split second, one of the airships she had hit with her canisters who knows how many times creaked forward, the cockpit crashing into the ground with a deafening smash.

Nora was frozen in place, eyes wide as she saw her life flash before her eyes. Had she not been pushed out of the way, she could have been crushed underneath that thing. She started to shake, nerve-wracking fear shooting into her heart. Her shivers moved the still form that hadn't moved from it's place on top of her.

Looking down, Nora was met with the sight of a very stiff Ren, arms wrapped tightly around her and face buried in her shoulder, holding her down, acting as a shield in case anything else dared fall on top of her. She felt her fear turn into shock, her heart hammering as she realized what Ren had done. "R-r-ren?" Nora asked, feeling that she couldn't possibly be experiencing this intimate display of heroism.

He stood up, disappointing Nora's wish for him to stay there, and held out a hand. "You okay, Nora?" his face filled with obvious worry.

Taking his offer at assistance, Nora felt herself being shakily pulled up, like something out of a fairy tale. Once she was standing steadily, Nora yelped in surprise as Ren pulled her in for a huge hug, holding the emotionally overwhelmed girl tight against his chest, head nestled on top of hers, his nose tickled by her scalp.

"Please, Nora… be more careful next time."

* * *

><p>Everything after that had been something of a daze. Ren had stalked off to hop out the window and get the team's luggage, she had stood their blankly as Pyrrha and Jaune had peppered her with questions and concerns about her well being and what exactly happened. She still hadn't said anything when the team was walking down the street, nor did her face move beyond an introspective slack-jawed glaze until the team was safely in a trolley headed near their next destination. She finally broke her daze as the tram lurched forward, whirring softly down into the evening sunset.<p>

Nora took her break from reverie to draw in her surroundings. The trolley, much smaller and compact than the train from Beacon, was decorated in scarlet and bronze, an aged yet classy look about the vinyl seats and polished wood floors. Pyrrha and Jaune, tired from the day's events, were sleeping across from her in their seats. She felt a smile tinge her lips; they were nestled together into an almost cuddle, shallow breaths nearly in sync with the others.

Turning to her left, Nora found Ren aimlessly reading a novel likley borrowed from Blake, his eyes slowly scanning pages as the slowly darkening metropolis sped by through the window.

Nora smiled; whenever the took public transport, Ren always got the window seat while she took the middle or aisle. He always liked looking out the window and having the option to nurture his thoughts in his head as opposed to being more obligated to be near the fellow passengers and potential conversations Nora would start. It was a nice system they worked out, and he was still keeping to it after all these years.

"Hey there, buddy" she whispered, feeling a bit out of place addressing her friend by anything other than his name, smiling nonetheless.

Ren closed his book, leaving a strip of paper to mark his place, and turned to Nora. "So you're no longer in stasis anymore," he said softly, running his eyes over her face. "You were really unresponsive for a second, probably still in shock for a while, correct?"

Nora nodded slowly, still not sure which part had shocked her more. "Yeah... but I feel better now."

"That's good," Ren said softly, a yawn tickling the sentence's end as he stretched and readjusted himself in the seat. Nora felt their moment start to slip; Ren was shutting down, starting to use exhaustion as an excuse to avoid talking, and she needed to finish with him. Siding up next to her friend, Nora laid her head on his shoulder, wrapping both arms around his one, left fingers wiggling into his right.

"Ren?" she asked, hoping her own display of gratitude didn't' perturb him. It didn't.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you." She nestled in, knowing their ride was coming to an end and meaning to make the best with what she had.

A second passed... five seconds passed. Then, at the seven second mark, five firm fingers gave Nora's hand a soft squeeze back, and a voice tinted with the smile only she could hear answered back.

"Anytime."


	10. Chapter 10: Free Falling

**Author's Note: Hello Readers! I am so very sorry for not getting Chapter 10 out sooner :/ I got caught up in assignments and was having trouble visualizing this next chapter and how it would work towards my vision for the rest of the story. I hope the wait didn't get to too many of you; trust me, it hurt me not to be able to get this out sooner, I've been dying to get back to writing.**

**To say the least, things are beginning to wrap up and a foreseeable end to this story will arrive within two to three chapters. I already have plenty of fanfic ideas that I will tackle when this is over and free time permits. But for now, enjoy the latest installment of Thunder Flowers and enjoy your weekend!**

**~thehemingwaydiemma**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 10: Free Falling, or The End of All Good Things<strong>

Ren stood at attention, his highly disciplined posture bearing a militant appeal as he scoped out the newest location. The team had found their destination rather quickly; the lotus boy hadn't expected to be out just one day after leaving Beacon, already having found all the info they needed for taking down Roman. If Junior's words were true, this was the place to be.

The team had needed a rest from the previous day's fight, Jaune in particular. The leader needed his strength, and having only recently started his training with Pyrrha he was still in need of more time to improve. So, JNPR had checked into a small inn not far from Roman's supposed warehouse to calm down, get some sleep, and formulate their plan of attack. Ren had taken charge of lugging the small provisions (changes of clothes, toiletries, and rations) while Nora proudly pushed Jaune and Pyrrha in on the bell hop's luggage rack, excitedly hitting the assistance bell before being told to buzz off.

Ren's mind grew a little heavier. He still hadn't 100 percent processed Nora and what things were like between them. With her partially suggesting to move beyond friendship, and now him saving her life with such evident concern… Ren wanted to just go back to where they were before Beacon. Maybe back before he realized how much he loved her.

"_Ren?"_

_It was the same tone she used on the trolley as she thanked him for his valiant deed. They were finishing the unpacking and the arrangement of their unconscious teammates (despite Nora's squealing about how cute they'd be in the same bed all snuggly, Ren insisted on putting Jaune on the couch to help him feel like the chivalrous leader) and had managed to take a breath._

_Ren hadn't wanted to answer her. He knew she'd try to push talking about what had happened, which was by far the one thing he was beginning to not have patience for. The more distance, the better, he had thought._

"_Yes, Nora?" he replied, keeping hi tone apathetic and even._

"_Your roots are starting to show." She smiled sweetly, holding up the familiar bottle of pink dye. "We gotta fix you up for the big fight!"_

_While glad she wasn't going to press on any touchy material, Ren was still pretty tired. "Nora, we need to get our sleep; plus –"_

"_Plus nothing, Mister Lie! You gotta look the tops when we kick Roman's booty tomorrow, and my partner can't be looking sloppy!"_

"_When have I ever looked sloppy? It isn't that much root," he countered, looking at the strand in the mirror. It always fell right where he could just see it, right in the corner of his sight. Despite Nora nagging to add more pink to his style and making his dad double take in contempt, Ren was rather fond of his highlight; he already felt himself relenting to Nora's request._

"_Please?" She asked, eyes starting to puppy-dog and lip beginning to quiver. "Pretty pretty please? Can I do it for you, Ren?"_

_Ren mock sighed, giving the impression that it was a big deal to him for Nora's sake. "Okay Nora, you win."_

_The hammer-girl double fisted the air, then leaped over and booped Ren affectionately on the nose. "Guess whose going to look preeettttyy?" she asked in sing-song fashion._

_Ren rolled his eyes. "Ren is."_

_Nora grinned again, eyes scrunched up as she charge into the bathroom to start the water. "Ren is!" she cried out, careful enough to not wake up their team's second half. With a chuckle, Ren followed her into the bathroom._

Ren did another check over Stormflower, checking to make sure he had enough Dust cartidges to last the raid. Jaune's plan was simple enough – sneak their way in, find Roman's office, do their best to find out as much information while waiting for Ozpin and law-enforcement to appear (Jaue had called them when they had arrived at the warehouse) and find out where Cinder Fall was and how to get to her.

Ren fumbled with a cartridge, his mind still elsewhere as he caught the fragile green dust before it hit the ground.

"_Hold still, silly, you're going to get the dye in your eye!"_

_Ren complied, waiting as Nora held that one little lock into the tub, applying the dye ever so carefully so that only it would be that bright shade of pink. Ren, while being bent over backward, was oddly in a sort of bliss, feeling warm steamy water play through the ends of his hair, laying back over a tub, and (as much as he was refusing to admit to himself) the feeling of Nora's fingers in his hair. This was one of the few grooming and maintenance activities he actually enjoyed; it was very calming, and he loved anything to do with stroking, washing, or playing with his hair. This one encompassed all three, so it took the cake nicely. _

"_And poof! There we go! One handsome Ren, side of pink, hold the boring." Pulling him up and out of the tub in a flourish, his spunky friend quickly took a towel and started fluffing his hair to dry it off. When she was done, Ren was ushered over to the mirror to see Nora's handiwork. As vibrant as ever, Ren's one lock of pink hair stood out against his ash grey, pink all the way down to the roots._

_Nora, smiling in the reflection Ren was staring at, started to play with that one strand of pink, soft fingers running through Ren's hair. Ren felt his eyes already starting to droop, the sensitive scalp and hair sending tingles down his spine and loosening the knot in his stomach. Ren cracked his eyes open, coming eye to eye with Nora. The corners of her mouth crinkled in a smile, closing serenely as she gently rubber her nose up against his, causing him to loudly blush._

"_Come on Ren," she said softly, light blue eyes opening up again. "We need to get some sleep."_

"Hey, you ready Ren?" Jaune asked, breaking the flashback from Ren's mind.

Holding back the involuntary start, Ren looked at Jaune and his other team mates. Pyrrha held her spear aloft, scanning the enormous warehouse for enemies. Jaune stood causally by Ren's side, smile on his face and wind ruffling in the air.

Nora, out of character, looked at Ren with a mixture of aloof sadness and quietly arranged distance. It broke his heart to see her looking at him like that; he wasn't positive, but he thought he knew why her sudden changes were taking place.

_Nora gave Ren a poke. "Aren't you going to change?"_

_Ren stiffened. "Nora, you know I rarely bring pajama's anywhere, I always sleep in my clothes –"_

"_But your clothes get wrinkly that way! At least sleep in your boxers or something, aren't you uncomfortable sleeping in heavy clothes all night?"_

"_Nora, I've told you – OOF!" Ren found himself pushed onto the bed, pinned down as his friend striped off his jacket, tenderly folding it and placing it on the ground. Despite Ren's struggles, Nora did the same for Ren's shoes and pants, leaving him in his black undershirt and a pair of green boxers with pink lotuses printed in lines down the sides. Nora blushed a little, clearly trying to take her eyes off of Ren's lithe yet muscular torso. Ren for his part felt entirely immodest and exposed, yet doing his best to avoid enjoying this too much._

_Moving from her position on Ren's stomach, Nora got up to do the same for herself, pulling her white shirt over her head to reveal a lacy pink bra. As Ren averted his eyes while she pulled off her skirt, he reminded himself that his childhood friend had over the years become… irresistibly curvy, to say the least; it wasn't his place to enjoy that, their friendship was strictly platonic._

_A soft rustle told Ren to brace himself as Nora slithered into bed, crawling under the sheets to press herself against Ren, arms wrapped around his chest, head buried in his sternum. The all too familiar contented sigh of the hammer wielder reached Ren's ears the same time the smile creasing his chest etched itself into his nerves. _This is wrong, this is so wrong, we've never been so close, and we're hardly clothed, you need to do something.

_In the same manner where everything goes wrong as soon as someone says "nothing could go wrong", Nora Valkyrie scooted up a little further so she was straddling Ren's waist unde the covers, arms now drapped around his neck, and, for the first time ever, planted a soft wet kiss on Ren's cheek. Her lisps were so soft, and very full; the kiss lasted a good seven seconds before Nora broke away, falling back on Ren with a playful bounce Instantly Ren felt himself stiffen up, hoping Nora didn't feel _every_ part stiffen as his eyes shot wide and his face change from pink to scarlet. In the dark of the room, the lotus boy saw his partner, friend, and self-forbidden love smile up at him, fingers tracing patterns over his pale chest. _

"_Ren… I know I never tell you how much you mean to me, but… thanks. Not just for saving my yesterday, but for everything." Just the fact that Nora was talking slowly, in soft measured sentences told Ren that this was not just some rambling or off the top of her head speech; she had put everything into these words. "I'm really lucky to have such a great guy like you by my side and," she took a soft breath before pulling herself up to look at Ren in the eyes, "you make everything a thousand times better for me._

"_Ren… I love you."_

The three words had still echoed within Ren's head, even now. Here they were, on one of the most important missions of the school, and here he was, silently love-struck by the words he never thought he deserved to hear.

He gave Nora one last look. She broke away from his gaze, her hunched form not even wanting to meet his eyes now. Ren's heart twisted in his chest; that wasn't how he wanted to handle the situation. That wasn't how he wanted to leave things with Nora; they were so close to being back to the way they were and he had to drive them apart _again_.

This wasn't the feeling he wanted when he fought. This wasn't the way he wanted to continue.

He finally turned to Jaune, letting the five seconds of silence between Jaune's question break at long last.

"Yeah." He twirled Stormflower expertly, catching a concerned look from Pyrrha. "I'm ready."

* * *

><p>This case was going to be easier to get into than their previous raid. Roman's warehouse was larger, and didn't seem to have as many complex machinery or compartments involved; there was a much more personal touch to the spacious, open basement.<p>

Peering in through a window, JNPR was able to see work benches strewn with weapons, dirty mugs, and stolen goods, one of Torchwick's signature aircraft, and, most surprisingly, a few cages containing Ursa, Beowolves, and even a young Nevermore. Tacked on the walls were old maps of Remnanat, Vale, and more in-depth looks at the cross streets, geography, and topography of various locations around the area. Scattered around the warehouses interior, hired henchmen and the occasional member of the White Fang were seen standing, walking, or carrying crates from here to there.

"Shh!" Jaune whispered, waving a hand to keep the already quiet team even quieter. His blue eyes wide, their leader pointed to the far door of the warehouse. "It's him."

Roman Torchwick himself strode in, flanked by two henchmen on each side. The red headed criminal mastermind was just as Ruby described him as; thin, smartly dressed, with a confidant swagger about him that could be seen even from a distance. Peering in closer, Ren saw a black and red console in his hand, held opposite his trademark cane.

"Well, do you have the serum prepared?" Roman asked, the echoes of his voice carrying around the room to JNPR's ears. A black and red dressed henchman handed his boss a red cylinder, fitted into a large syringe like containter, which Torchwick promptly took, walking over to the cages containing the various Grimm.

"What's he trying to do?" Jaune voiced the team's collective thought out loud.

Roman stood before one of the larger Ursa, who glowered at its captor, a guttural growl rising in its throat. The gingered crime boss, cocky even from this distance, started to toss the scarlet cylinder from hand to hand, eyes still fixed on the Ursa in front of him.

Then, with lightning speed, Roman drove the needled end into the base of the Ursa's neck, causing the bear-like Grimm to double back in pain, earth shattering roar rattling Ren's teeth as it reverberated through the warehouse. Ren started in surprise, his heart leaping into his throat

"I say we find out what the hell is going on, how about you Jaune?" Pyrrha asked; even the Spartan was shaken by the Ursa and… whatever it was that Roman had done to him. Ren nodded, watching as and Nora mimicked his movement. Their curiosity was piqued as well; whatever Roman's plan was, they needed to get down there and hopefully sabatoge as much as they could.

"How much time did Ozpin say we had?" Ren asked.

Jaune looked at his scroll, flicking through the messages until he got to the most recent. "We have about ten minutes to do what we can." He hefted his sword, standing upright as the shield/sheath of Crocea Mors sprung open. "Ready, team?"

Not waiting for an answer, Jaune paced back a little, then dashed forward and threw himself through the window with a crash. Ren's eyes widened, then instinctively squeezed shut to avoid any splinters of glass that might have flown away from their leader's dramatic entrance.

Giving a sidelong glance to Pyrrha, Ren shrugged and, using Stormflower, shot a hole big enough for him to crash through , the fall short enough so he hit the ground seconds later, landing so he avoided absorbing too much impact and potentially injuring his knees. Two more crashes told Ren that his fellow team mates had also made their presence known, and Nora's sudden presence slightly behind him reminded Ren to sand clear as Magnhild changed from grenade to hammer. Already, henchmen were drawing weapons, Torchwick angrily puffing on his cigar. "I swear, these damn kids just keep getting crazier and crazier!" he spat, hefting his cane in combat stance. "How the hell do you even find us so often?!" he barked, this time addressing Jaune.

Jaune dusted himself off, much more composed than he might have been before Pyrrha's lessons. "We had a run in with a certain oxymoron," the blond replied. Roman, arched eyebrow and confused look, obviously didn't get the reference Ren was also having trouble understanding. _Please don't tell me Pyrrha's been trying to teach him witty banter_ too Ren hoped, feeling embarrassed as even the henchmen looked at each other quizzically.

"Uh, Junior Xiong? Big guy, has a name like Junior? Kinda contradictory name if you ask –"

"Oh, yes, him" Roman coldly retorted, lighting a fresh cigar. "I see you made him squeal about my location, then?" Taking a blissful puff, Torchwick fixed his glare on Jaune. "If we're going to be making introductions this way, I suppose you're acquainted with a certain scythe wielder, dressed in mostly red?"

Jaune nodded slowly, doing his best to regain his authoritative composure. Jerking his head back toward the Grimm, Jaune continued the polite mincing of words. "So, uh, whatcha got going on there? Trying out Grimm tranquilizers or something?" Ren took the time to examine the collapsed Ursa, the now translucent cylinder still in it's neck.

Roman grinned. "Well, Golden Boy, since you ask so nicely, I'd say you deserve a little demonstration yourself. " Waving his arms to the henchmen to usher them in a circle around Team JNPR, Roman leered at Pyrrha. "Give the ladies a little something to remember this evening by, eh?"

While Jaune fumbled over his apparently knew nickname, Ren took a glance over in Nora's direction. Ren was a little shocked to see his usually chipper and battle hungry friend standing up straight, hammer held evenly in front of her, head bent with eyes turned towards the floor, her expression as blank as Ren's usually was. _ Why isn't she smiling? Or at least bouncing on her feet?_

But while Ren knew full well why Nora was not herself, he was moreover trying to grasp that a battle wasn't putting her back into her normal spirits. Was it really that bad that his battle-hunger best friend seemed so devoid of joy? Would she snap out of it and just be _Nora_ again?

Every thought was put on hold as more and more heart stopping roars erupted from the cages around the foursome, now being accompanied by shrieks that blurred the line between screams and howls with each passing second. Darting his eyes around the room, Ren saw similar red cylinders being emptied into the soft neck tissue of Ursa and Beowolf alike, and each henchman creaking open each animal's cage door.

Roman Torchwick, holding one of the sleek black consoles in his hand, slammed a thumb down on one of the red buttons, eyes reflecting the manic soul within. "Enjoy the latest efforts of mine, if you dare; Dust does have some interesting properties about it, doesn't it?"

"That's _Dust_?" Jaune exclaimed, watching one of the Ursa rise stiffly to its feet. "Why the heck are you doing shooting Dust into GriMm like that?"

Roman chuckled as more and more of the normally savage beasts rose to their hind feet, like soldiers rising from their graves. "Now what kind of villain would I be if I just gave away all the answers?" With a flourish, the dapper man twirled round and strode through the mass of Grimm with ease. "Keep them busy for me," he casually remarked to the henchman next to him, handing the red and black glad man the console as he strode away.

"Jaune…?" Pyrrha asked nervously as more an more henchmen pulled out their own remotes, punching in codes in an almost menacing fashion. Her blue eyed beau stood frozen in thought before replying.

"If the consoles have anything to do with it," he said so the henchmen didn't hear, "that Dust should, I don't know, control the Grimm? It seems weird, but we're dealt with weirder. If that's the case, Nora and Pyrrha, I need you guys to work with me to –"

"Look out!" Nora shouted, swinging her hammer to block a Beowolf that just leaped at Pyrrha. The Grimm were already trying to rush the four teens, leading Jaune to give the rest of his speech on the fight.

"Alright ladies," he said as he shoved his sword into the side of a Beowolf, shield shoving an Ursa paw away from his head with a practiced jerk, "we need to try and fend off the Grimm as we do our best to destroy or separate the controllers from those guys. Ren, since you're faster and more agile, you focus on the henchmen and their consoles, and maybe distract the Grimm if you need to."

Ren only half listened, focusing his attention on the three Beowolves circling him. Shooting one in the eye as it leapt at him, then dodging the next one's leap while expertly shoving both blades into it's unprotected underside, the lotus boy bashed the last one's head in as he sped through the mess of beasts toward the outer circle of red-tied goons. Catching the first by surprise, Ren splintered the controller in two and knocked the breath out of another with a jab of the elbow, his momentum allowing him to swing his foot into another's chest. Making quick demises of their consoles, Ren instinctively parried another assailant's punch, twisting him around and throwing him into the fray of controlled and recently freed Grimm, the later ones not having a preference on who they attacked and were more chaotic than their robotic counterparts.

_Torchwick must have wanted to use this Dust-controlling mechanism to use Grimm to his advantage in fights or raids,_ Ren thought as he slid away from the projectile feathers of the solitary Nevermore circling above the fighting. _Let's hope he doesn't try and make any more of this, he could pull off quite a bit with this stuff…_

Dodging the Ursa's claw, Ren ducked under its legs to evade the larger, more difficult to kill Grimm, Ren caught sight of two things he needed to act on: one was Roman casually walking up to his airship, six henchmen behind him carrying and wheeling crates likely filled with Dust, weapons, and other important goods. The second was Nora, fully in charge of her situation with a dead serious grimace on her face as she diligently swung her hammer into the heads of Ursai and Beowolf alike, bashing in heads and crushing chest cavities alike with the controlled expertise of a warrior.

_She's not enjoying herself, is she?_ Ren glumly thought to himself, letting the rest of the fighting melt away and become an endless, hardly audible drone in the back of his head. Pink eyes blazing in the battle light, Ren sought out Jaune Arc and nimbly picked his way toward his leader, dodging or engaging Grimm along the way.

Finally reaching his leader, Ren shot down a Beowolf about to jump Jaune on his blind spot. As the carcass hit the Arc boy's feet, he swung around in surprise, then faced Ren. "Thanks, I guess I owe you one," Jaune chuckled.

"No time, Torchwick is making an escape. I'm going to go after him, try and stop him if I can."

Jaune nodded, reengaging another Ursa as he acknowledged Ren's statement. "Stay safe and act quickly, okay?" he replied, shield going up to stop the spined bear's massive paw just in time.

Ren nodded back, turning around to dash back toward the massive airship that was just finished being loaded. Ren, sprinting forward with a sudden determination, fired shots upon shots of his twin Stormflowers, setting the few crates not put into the ship's cargo hold afire and sending the hired muscle running for cover, drawing weapons of their own. Torchwick himself leaned out of the pilot's window; hand on his head to avoid his feathered derby from blowing in the wind. His expression blank, the mastermind shrugged and got back into the cockpit, not seeing Ren as a major threat to his escape.

Ren knew very little about what he was going to do, likely because he hadn't figured that part out yet. But maybe that was why his non-plan was going to work so well; maybe working on the fly was going to show him something he didn't see if he just scoped out the scenario before taking action. Maybe learning as he went was going to work better this time because he had no time to think. All he could to was act, and he was going ot have to do it soon.

Leaping onto the side of the jet as it lurched forward, Ren dug both blades of Stormflower into the hull, clinging on as the heavy airplane/helicopter hybrid started to pick up speed. Ren wasn't sure, but if he got to the top of the ship he could get to the cockpit and hijack Roman from there, or try to kill the engine with Stormflower, or if he could get to a wing he might be able to set the ship off balance by ruining a thruster…

The tug at Ren's mouth was somewhere between a bittersweet smile and a wry frown. _Interesting,_ he mused to himself. _I'm being to sound a lot like –_

"LIE REN!"

The huntsman's head whipped around as he heard a feminine shout call his name out of the fighting. Nora Valkyrie, face set in anger and determination, was sprinting toward him and the departing aircraft with surprising speed, Magnhild slung across her back. Giving her legs one last pump, Nora sprung in the air and landed on top of the ship as it finally caught air, taking off into the sky. Leaning over the edge of the ship, Nora had to yell to be heard over the engine.

"YOU DON'T RUSH HEADLONG INTO A SITUATION LIKE THAT REN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Ren scowled. _She runs over to join me on this, finally done skulking around, and this is how she finally talks to me? _Ren hoisted himself up and over the side of the ship, sheathing Stormflower in his sleeves.

"You're certainly one to talk, Nora! Don't try and call me out on that, we've got bigger problems to deal with!"

The cheery attitude was gone from Nora's voice as she sarcastically threw her hands in the air. "Oh, good! You finally want to talk about your behavior last night, after everything I was doing –"

"Yes, that, but I was talking more specifically about, oh, I don't know, _stopping this guy from escaping on us?!"_ Ren shouted, gesturing to the fact that they were standing atop an aircraft that was already putting distance between itself and the warehouse.

Eyes still locked onto Ren's, Nora whipped Magnhild out from behind her and shot a grenade at the left wing of the ship, blowing apart one of the jets. The ship sputtered, giving a lurch before slowly regaining it's course, albeit lopsided and favoring it's injured left side. Roman must have been a skilled pilot, as the ship still increased in altitude until it was among the clouds.

"There, now he'll start circling around and trying to find a place to land" Nora said matter-of-factly. "Now, as we were saying…"

"Nora, what the heck is your problem?!" Ren shouted before Nora could respond.

"My problem?! My problem! Ren, I tell you I love you and all you say is "It's getting late" after a minute of awkward silence?! What kind of response is that?!"

"You took me off guard, and you were making me nervous with that get up, practically trying to come onto me when we're clearly best friends and nothing –"

Nora threw up her hands, clearly done. "Okay, fine, I may have gone a little overboard! But come on, we've been together for so long the "not-together-together" is just stupid! And at least I'm saying and showing how I feel, not acting so stiff and callous like _some_ hunters I know!"

"You know I'm not as expressive of stuff like that, just like I know you can't just stay quiet about things. It's who we are, Nora!"

"But why, Ren?! I've been your best friend for ages now, you know I love you! We've been there through thick and thin, we've shared so much of our lives and identities, so why can't we take that to the next level? Just tell me how you feel and we can go from there, but don't just dance around the issue like we won't ever talk about it!"

Ren already felt his temper rise. Naturally, he saw all the possible distractions to use against the confrontation. The fact that they needed to stop the ship's flight and land it so Roman didn't try to escape; how any second they could fall off the edge; Nora's warped perception on the simplicity of relationships.

"Ren, I need an answer! Don't do this to me, please..."

Ren heaved a sigh. He wasn't going to get out of this easy.

"Nora, I can't ever lose you. I don't want to step into something that we can't ever get back from."

"But we can! We know each other better than anyone else, this would only make things better –"

_That did it._

"THEY SAID THE SAME THING!" Ren suddenly barked, surprising himself at the amount of venom that fueled his words. A small lurch of the hull below him made Ren brade himself against the smooth metal, taking a dramatic knee before adjusting to the new altitude. The plane may still have been going in slow, huge circles, but there was still the risk of falling from this height.

Nora had jumped a little, regaining balance with an awkward shuffle. "I don't get it –"

"My parents were friends as close as we were, Nora. They told me about how close they had gotten, and how much the other meant to them. They told me how much being with their best friend every day of their life made them happy, and how they knew they'd stay friends through thick and thin." Ren already felt his long-repressed emotion drench his words, but kept talking, desperate to get the story out.

"Three kids later and here they are, too addicted to fighting to get a divorce and too bitter with themselves to want to patch things up. My parents are too steeped in their traditions and heritages to want to admit they're wrong or to seek help from anyone. And it's not just my parents. Every grandparent, both sides of the family, for as long as I could remember, divorced or saw a destroyed marriage when the last child left the house. My uncles and aunts are in abusive marriages that no one wants to talk about or try to fix. Even my older cousins never hold a relationship for three months before scaring their partner off or destroying their chances at any kind of future."

The look in Nora's eyes was one of heartbreak, empathy, and an overwhelming desire to give comfort or words of wisdom; while part of her knew the Lie household wasn't always the most comfortable atmosphere for her friend, she had never heard this story from Ren and the shock was evident on her face. Ren ignored it; in any other situation he would listen, but once the flood gates were breached there was no stopping it.

"Friendship can't last a relationship, Nora. It's in my blood to never succeed in love. If what I have with you is all I can have without tearing us apart…" There wasn't a need to go on. One more word and he would choke on his emotions, and the tension between the two was enough to leave that half sentence completed in both their minds.

Smoke had been billowing from Roman's destroyed thruster, and only now did Ren feel it itching his eyes. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ren felt something spike in his aura. Scanning for the potential threat, Ren saw it all too late.

"Nora! Look ou –!"

It wasn't any good. Roman still leaned out of his cockpit, and still pulled the trigger on his cane/gun. The bullet still whizzed it's way into Nora's leg, and, despite Ren's leap to catch her, both boy and girl still fell off the side of the helicopter, free falling into the clouds at an alarming speed.


	11. Chapter 10 and a Half

Chapter 10.5: Losing

Down, down, down they fell, tumbling in the air that rushed past their ears. Nora was screaming, tears barely having a chance to roll down her face before they shot into the sky, left hanging in the air before making their own descent to the ground. Ren grimaced, his eyes tearing as he realized this was not going to end well for either of them. Trying to increase his fall so he'd be near Nora, Ren boosted his aura, pushing him down just a little bit more. Simultaneously, both of them latched onto the other, faces buried in the other's shoulders as the ground drew closer.

The world loomed below them, mostly clouds obscuring the city painted orange in the sunset. Ren felt his heart drop as everything thing started rushing through his mind, every last memory being brought back to light as his life flashed before his eyes.

"_So, um… I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"_

_Seven year old Nora stood awkwardly at the sidewalk with her best friend Ren, at the spot where her house started and his ended._

_Ren shuffled his feet, green sneakers kicking the pavement as his head hung low. "Yeah… I'll see you tomorrow then."_

_Neither moved from their positions, still with their heads down. Neither wanted to go inside; they had both heard what was going onside their own home. Nora was all too aware of the argument her parents were having again, and Ren knew his parents were tag-team berating his older sister again. It was at that stage where Ren's parents were realizing they weren't suited for a mellow marriage, and Nora's parents were on the verge of a brutal divorce._

_Neither kid wanted to face that again._

As he saw just who was attached to each and every one of those memories, Ren knew the girl who was clutching onto him needed something before… before she felt the world crash into them at full force.

"NORA!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to be heard over the air rushing past his ears and lodging his voice in the back of his throat.

"_Ren?" Nora asked quietly, looking up at the boy in front of her._

_Ren looked up too, a smidge of curiosity on his glum face._

"_Can we play for a while? My mommy, uh… wants me to stay outside for a little bit and get some… fresh air, and…" her face contorted as she tried to remember the fancy words her parents used to describe playing. "…exercise?"_

_Ren was relieved to have an excuse not to go inside his equally scary home. "Okay. My parents don't, uh, mind either, Mom likes you." He scratched at his hair which, at this time in his life, was absent of the pink statement Nora would take to coloring in once the two were juniors in high school. "Uh, what do you want to play?"_

"You shouldn't have followed me here!"

"I had to!" the girl yelled back. "We needed to patch things up; I'm sorry!"

"I am too! I was a jerk, and -!"

"No you weren't!" Nora's arms found their way around Ren's neck, cheeks damp with tears. "I shouldn't have been so forward! I just didn't want to wait so long!"

Ren cracked his eyes open, taking in the city rushing up at them. Roman had gone very high up, allowing a long fall for the two to take. With the speed they were going, Ren knew trying to land on one of the buildings was suicide; he'd need something else to break the fall.

_Nora thought for a minute, soft cheeks flushing s she tried to not let herself cry. It was painfully obvious that both the houses were filled with angry, violent yelling, each child hearing their own parent's vehement cries. She needed an escape from that. She needed to do something to take away the hurt she was feeling and try to avoid having another alright day turn sour on her._

_Uncharacteristically silent, Nora took Ren by the hand, jogging a little as she dragged her friend by the hand across the street. Ren and she had lived across from this park for as long as they could remember, complete with a small playground, bird pond, and winding sidewalk for strolls. Nora went past all that, her little legs pumping as she kept running through the bushes and trees. She looked back, hoping she wasn't hurting Ren back there. Ren looked only a little confused from his spot behind Nora, and doing his best to keep up with her fast strides._

_Finally, they came to a small alcove within the trees, hidden away from view unless you were three feet tall and weren't busy with the muddled thoughts of adults. Nora knew she was giving up her secret hiding spot to share it with Ren, but that was going to make it even better; her best friend could be with her too so she didn't get so lonely as she hid herself from all the bad._

"In that case…" Ren felt his voice catch as he realized he didn't have much time left, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

Nora pulled away from him ever so lightly, fear at the impending crash mixing with a new gleam in her eyes; expecting, waiting, wanting. Ren knew the gears in her head were turning, and she almost didn't want to believe that internal voice telling her Ren was going to make her the happiest girl with the three words she'd been dying to hear.

Who knew how real that would be?

_Nora turned to Ren, looking back at him with eyes smoky with tears. "Ren…?" she started. The boy in green, who was already as sad as she was, sniffed and nodded._

_"__I won't tell anyone."_

_Nora smiled gratefully. She really was glad she had Ren in her life; he was a fun boy, despite what other girls in their second grade class said. She grabbed him by the hand and, getting down to crawl under the leaves, crawling in a circle around the nearby tree until they came to a hollow in the trunk created by lightning strike. It was hidden away from the rest of the world, with enough bushes covering it so two little kids could sit alone and undisturbed._

_They sat there for a while, neither keeping track of time. Nora didn't want to talk, and was glad Ren wasn't much of a conversationalist; it was better neither of them cried during this moment. _

_After a pause, Nora climbed over so she was lying down against Ren, both of them snuggling up against the other. Only now did she let herself cry a little, already feeling the hot tears trace lines down her face and wet the softness of Ren's t-shirt. After a moment, she felt his own tears roll into her hair and his arms encircle her tighter, both heaving soft sobs under a slowly setting sun. _

Ren squeezed his eyes shut, pulling Nora in close for a bear hug. This wasn't how he wanted to say it; he had envisioned them at a dance, or on a walk down the street, or maybe in the midst of a battle they had full control over. Not like this. He didn't want to do this when there was no hope for a chance to see her react, to know he had said everything the right way, to feel his heart explode as he finally told the most important part of his life just how he thought of her. But they had no time now; everything was going to end right this, and needed to brace them for it.

"Nora, I've always -"

**And in that second, everything went black.**


	12. Chapter 11: Back on Track

**Chapter 11: Back on Track**

Slowly, ever slowly, Nora wandered through the forest, everything around her a deep shade of charcoal gray.

She hadn't remembered what happened to Ren, but hoped he was staying nearby in case anything happened. As a soft wind blew the crisp leaves across her feet, Nora Valkyrie scanned the forest, oddly calm and collected in the desolate and dreary environment. Normally she would be afraid of the scratched up trees and shadows that shifted nervously in the forest beyond, but she felt oddly apathetic and uninterested in all of this; there was nothing significant or noticeable, nothing to be afraid of.

Nora slowly became aware of another presence nearby, the feeling of being watched tingling at the base of her skull. She slowed her pace to barely a stroll, now aware of a figure walking up to her right side. Magnhild was nowhere to be seen, but the pink-lover was just as capable without her beloved weapon. Now coming to a complete stop, Nora shifted to a combat stance, eyes narrowed in anticipation and hands up in case things got physical.

The figure came more into focus, and Nora was able to see that it was a small woman, no bigger than Ruby was. Wearing a cloak of deep grey that matched the landscape around her, the grizzled old lady strode forward in confidence, ornate red robes beneath giving her a powerful edge about her. Now no more than ten feet away, Nora's possible assailant pulled looked on, eyes of cobalt matching Nora's stare. With a gravelly voice reminiscent of Ren's nan who smoked a pack a day, the lady spoke.

"I take it you are Miss Nora Valkyrie." It wasn't a question; more an assurance of a well-known fact.

Nora didn't let her surprise show; best not let this crafty woman know too much. "What is it to you?"

The lady smiled, the wrinkles creasing into a peaceful expression bearing no ill will. "Rest, child, the woods here are not to be filled with sparring, I pose no threat to you. Well," here she let out a good natured chuckle, "unless of course you plan on destroying my babies." Here she gestured to the only break from monochromatic drear, in the form of soft yellow lilies that grew across the clearing.

Nora relaxed a little, the atmosphere and the old lady's sweet nature allowing the huntress to return to her normal nature. "Phew, I'm sorry, I was worried is all. See, I'm not really from around here, and I don't really know where this is or how I got here, and I was wondering if by any chance you had an idea of how to get out of here? Or maybe where I could get some food, I'm starving and haven't seen anything to eat -"

The old lady held up a hand. "So, you don't remember anything, do you?"

Nora stopped, blinking in confusion. "Anything about what?"

The lady smiled warmly, but this time Nora didn't feel as comforted. "You don't know where you are?"

Nora looked around. "Uh…. no, should I? I don't recall being here before, I was just passing through."

The woman shook her head. "Nope."

Nora frowned. "Nope?"

"Nope."

"… 'Nope' meaning what, if you're trying to scare me you might as well stop because believe me, I'm already feeling pretty scared as it is so –"

"I mean, you aren't passing through here. You can't pass through a place if there isn't somewhere to come out of the other side, now can you?" The old lady, eyes glowing ominously, gestured to the vast expanse of trees, trees and more trees. "There is nothing here for you to move past, no end to the forest. You might as well stop walking; you'll need those feet for quite some time."

All Nora could do was feel the color drain from her face, still not understanding everything but being very frightened about what she was picking up from the dramatic woman before her. A hard lump formed in her throat, air having trouble betting to her lungs.

The lady now directed her attention to, of all places, Nora's legs. "How are those still intact?" She mused to herself, sending Nora into another bout of confusion.

"My legs? Nonono, you see, I'M the one who breaks legs, mine don't get broken, just ask –"

"Well then, if your legs didn't break, then how did you survive the fall?"

Like sparks to a kindling, Nora felt a snippet of memory jumpstart. "The fall?"

"Yes, that's how you came here don't you remember? You and that, that tall green boy, handsome devil he was –"

Nora couldn't tell if the scream she heard was her own or just a figment of her imagination, but either way the memories flooding back burnt like no other feeling ever. Images flashed through her mind, each one triggering raw emotion and thoughts lost in translation; green boy at the playground, sitting on the swings. The same boy at her birthday, watching as she opened her still-favorite set of pink earrings. The boy walking home next to her from school, listening as she warbled about everything and nothing; attending her dream academy with the boy; her face buried his chest as she remembered what it felt like to be home in his arms; screaming at him to wake up and see that they could move to the next level and have it be better than staying where they were then; and lastly, screaming as they fell to their deaths in a sick, twisted version of a loving embrace as she almost heard what she hoped was the eight precious letters she'd been dying to hear for years on end.

"REN!" With that scream she tore through the forest, barely leaving the woman chance to say another word.

"But you'll never see him, that's the way these words work, child! You're supposed to wait until evaluations is complete before –"

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Nora bellowed, running deeper and deeper into purgatory's endless woods in the vain attempt to find her best friend, her love, her better half.

"Ren!? Where are you?! I need you, you gotta be here, you gotta!" She continued to crash though the undergrowth, ignoring the snap of branches against her face, searching frantically for Ren. She couldn't spend eternity with her boy; it wasn't possible.

"_REN? REN! RENRENRENRENREN REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!"_

* * *

><p>"It's okay, it's okay, easy, whoa, it's – CAN SOMEONE GET ME A HAND?"<p>

Immediately Jaune and Yang rushed over and helped Pyrrha hold down the frantically screaming Nora, whose flailing arms and thrashing head were going to completely undo all the hard work the doctors had managed to pull off.

It had been a grueling fight with Roman's henchmen and the Grimm, but they had managed to beat them down with the help of the Vale Police Force before turning toward their next objective – JNPR's second half. Neither Ren nor Nora had answered their scrolls, and they gave no word yet of how they were doing with Roman, so the Spartan and her leader were taken up in a chopper by one of the of-duty deputies to look for their teammates.

The two had been a wreck when they were discovered nearly twenty miles away from the warehouse, crumpled on the ground like broken dolls. Onlookers said that both boy and girl had just fallen from the sky, their fall barely broken by one of the shop's awnings, and at that the tightly stretched fabric didn't do much at all to brace them for impact.

And here they were, both hardly alive in their side-by-side hospital beds with lifelines that fluctuated between fighting to make it through the next minute and hardly holding on. Ren had not moved since he was found, blood softly trickling out of his mouth and recently applied casts still drying on his arm and leg. Three ribs and an arm were broken, he had suffered a mild concussion, and his aura was at an all-time low; if what passerby had said was true, he must have unleashed a powerful burst of aura nanoseconds before impact to protect them any spinal/organ damage.

Nora was in a similar condition, only recently having started shifting. She had sustained a shot to the leg, likely from Roman, in addition to her broken leg, skull fracture, and broken collarbone. Only a minute ago she started spastically flailing about, yelling something about Ren. It took Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha's combined efforts to just try and restrain Nora and stop her from coming loose from the IVs stuck in her arms. It was no use; Nora seemed to be in between consciousness, as if she was stuck in the middle of a nightmare with no ways to possibly wake up.

Another nurse, a muscular blonde in green scrubs, came in and, with the three friends already holding down the Valkyrie, managed to make his way in and give Nora an increase in morphine. After a good minute of ever so slowly winding down, Nora's arms came to a rest at her side, her breathing and heart rate mellowing down. Then, with her eyes shot wide open, Nora flung herself up from the bed again.

"REN! HE'S – Augh!" To the relief of everyone in the room, Nora slumped back down into the bed, holding her stomach as she slowly realized that she was, in fact, dealing with a lot of pain. Her breath coming in deep heaves, Nora lay in her bed, mind racing past the throbbing headache she was trying to overcome. After a good three minutes, she turned her head toward the group of three friends, her eyes feeble.

"What happened?" Nora asked, her voice shallow in spite of her previous scream. An uncomfortable glance was exchanged between Jaune and Pyrrha before the blonde boy spoke up.

"You and Ren had a nasty fall, Nora. You've broken several bones, you're Aura is very weak, and you've been out for nearly three days now."

Nora nodded faintly, fatigue obviously settling in. "I had a… a really bad dream or something. There was a forest, and a lady, and –" Once again, the fiery light shown in her eyes, and she once again bolted up in bed. "Ren! Oh my gosh, is he okay?! Where'd he go, he's alright is he?"

"Shh, shh, don't worry," Yang said, gently pushing Nora back down so she laid back on the bed. She pointed to Nora's left, at the bed just three feet away. "He's right there, still unconscious but – NORA!"

Already, Nora was trying to climb out of the confining sheets and mattress, faded eyes and desperate breathes directed at her attempt to get over to her partner. "He's okay!" she squeaked, sounding happy for the first time since the stay at the hotel. "I gotta get to him, he looks so bad, is he okay, I – ow, ow, owowowow OW…"

Pyrrha and Yang, rolled eyes at their hyperactive friend's need for her boy, pulled the girl back into bed. This third attempt at getting up already took it's toll, and she was hanging tiredly off of the bed, arms limply moving in a half-hearted attempt to get across the small expanse of room. Her pain tolerance and endurance were hardly at their normal level, and this time she laid back dejectedly, head echoing with pain as she tried to steady out her ragged breathes. She drew in a sharp breath of pain when she adjusted on one of her casts wrong; it was going to be a long recovery.

"Nora, you can't be moving around so much with these levels of injuries; you're never going to heal wasting all your energy like this." Jaune laid a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort his teammate. "Just try to rest, okay? If you need anything, just call us. Alrighty?"

Nora nodded feebly. She had to admit, maybe a quick nap wouldn't hurt. Hey lids weighing heavy on her eyes, she just hopped the sleep would be dreamless for once…

* * *

><p>For once, Nora got her wish, groggily waking up after an immeasurable span of black. She still felt pain arcing across her body, but less intense than in had been before. The Novocaine must have done the trick; she felt a satisfying numbness in her joints, and a quick scan of her aura levels told her she was up to a good thirty-five percent.<p>

"Uuuugh," she groaned, shifting in bed to try to get a better view of the room. It must have been late afternoon by the looks of the orange light splattered against the drab white walls and sheets, and the only ones in the room were her, a nurse tending to a patient at the other end of the room, and –

"Nora?" Her heart skipped a beat as a familiar voice, nasally with medication, croaked out her name. She turned around, cautious this time around in remembrance of her previous bouts of pain, to see a cloudy eyed Ren peering over at her, likely just coming out of his own coma.

"Ren!" she squeaked happily, waving her hand at her friend of friends, reaching a hand over to try and grab for his. Ren, perking up ever so slightly, did the same, leaning a little too far out before having to slide back into his bed from exertion and pain. But he was right back up on his elbows, wide pink eyes staring at Nora in a way she had never, ever, seen him look at anyone before.

"Are you okay? I mean aside from being in a hospital bed and hooked up to IVs, but I barely remember the fall and – ugh! Okay, that hurts a lot, but Nora, I'm so so sorry about all this happening, I tried to stop with my aura but I was too late and now you're hurt and I could have stopped it but now you're here and bandaged up and…"

Nora just stared in disbelief. Ren never strung this many words together in one go, and never this fast or emotional either. She felt herself start to blank out, but pulled herself back to reality. _ He puts up with my ramblings all the time, the one time he starts talking I should listen. _She noticed with a little concern that the lotus boy's heart monitor was beeping erratically, which meant Ren was starting to panic. "Ren, Ren, hey" she called softly, once again reaching a hand out to try to calm her friend down. "It's okay, you're fine, it's going to be okay…"

Ren's breathing and heart monitor slowly, ever so slowly, went from rapid to faster-than-average to a final steady rhythm, the normally reserved boy recovering from his out-of-place panic attack. _I'll have to remember how cute he looks like this,_ Nora thought to herself, peering over at Ren to make sure he was alright.

Finally, her partner spoke with a weary glance over at her. "How are you?"

"Sore… and tired," Nora replied, hand still outstretched in case Ren wanted to hold it. Either he didn't see it or hand-holding wasn't on his list of things to do that day; either way, he stared back up at the ceiling, breath still slightly ragged.

"What are we going to do, Nora?" he finally asked, not moving his gaze from the ceiling.

Nora blinked, not expecting such an answer. "You mean like now, or in the long run, or later today, or –?"

Ren held up a hand, signaling it was his turn. A deep breath let Nora know her partner was going to speak his mind.

Nora focused on her Ren as his pink eyes stared up in thought, voice weak in power but strong in emotion and conviction. "As we fell, I had to come to a lot of conclusions." His deep pinks flickered down, a smile at his nervous uncertainty playing a smile at Nora's lips. "I'm really not sure how long we fell, but it was long enough to think about…" a half-hearted gesture motioned to the last few day's events, "all of this."

Now his eyes fixed on Nora's, his gaze always accompanied by her knees going weak. "Nora, you know me better than anyone else does. Maybe even myself. I desperately don't want to lose what we have, not for any short period of bliss, not for a perfect relationship; I can't bear to know I did something to push away or spoil the only piece of home I have left."

His words touched her heart, and she felt herself melt a little inside; still, if they were going to talk things out, he had to hear her side.

"Ren," she started off softly, "I know you don't want to do any of that, and I trust you not to. But pushing me away or trying to protect me because you don't want to hurt our friendship is doing just that. We'll always be best friends, Ren, always." She leaned in as best she could, which was more like moving her head toward him by an inch, doing nothing to the three-foot gap between them.

"I do know you better than anyone else. I know you're quiet and reserved because you want to make every word count, and because you feel secure being calm, cool, and collected. It's how you function, and at your core it is who you are. Those two parts, inside and out, fit together perfectly."

Ren arched an eyebrow, practically asking what she was getting at by saying all this. _And here we have a fine example of me being right_, Nora thought to herself, glad she could read Ren like a book.

"I'm saying this because that is who you are Ren, not who your parents are." She knew she struck a chord with him, maybe not a happy chord, but an important one for her point. "You are not your parents, Ren. They live the way they do out of a need to hold tradition, a need to prove honor and discipline. Ren, they don't match their outsides, which is why they fought so often. You've already proven you are not your parents; you aren't going to fall into their same routines, you won't end up like them." She felt herself tear up a little bit, remembering the fights heard in the Lie household, or the days Ren skulked to school with a black eye, emanating hurt and practically screaming_ Don't Ask_ through his harrowing silence.

"Ren, I love you. With everything I have. I know you don't want to hurt me, and you won't; if we have conflict, we can get through it and be better people because of it, just like we always do." She took a gulp of air, not realizing how much of an effort talking was until now. "And I don't want to have to wait any more for you to see that, but I'd rather wait a hundred years than never know what it was like to have you be with me in any way, shape, or form."

Ren didn't speak. He was now looking at the ground between them, thoughtfulness tinged with sorrow lacing his face. _Please say something,_ Nora pleaded silently in her head. _Please don't repeat the hotel scene, I can't handle something like that again. Not so soon after almost losing you.  
><em>

After a moment or three, Ren sighed and turned his sights to meet Nora's. "Can I ask you something?"

Nora nodded, hoping he wasn't going to avoid the subject.

Leaning up a little, Ren adjusted the best he could to a comfortable position. "When your parents almost divorced… how did you feel? Did it change your idea of how love worked? Were you scared, or angry? How did it effect you?"

Nora pondered this for a moment; it had been a while since her parents almost divorced, and it hadn't been on her mind for so long.

Surprising herself, she shrugged. "It just happened," she said, earning a puzzled and somewhat startled look from Ren. "I mean I cried about it a lot and I didn't want them to do it, and if you remember I was so scared and worried I couldn't sleep, but then they got better and they're so much happier than before." She actually smiled a little to herself. "It's funny, I think I was so much more happier to know they were not going to split that I forgot to worry about how they were during that period."

"But what about your thoughts on their marriage? Didn't you think that something was wrong and that love wouldn't work at all?"

"Oh yeah, for weeks, but only while they were at their angriest. Once they settled their issues and became even better I decided that love was too strong to let a few little things like fighting, disagreements, or a deteriorating relationship that could have very well ended with violence and murder get in it's way."

Ren narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure that last one is too big to be considered a 'little thing', Nora."

Nora shrugged again, matching Ren's stare with one of her own. "Compared to love it isn't."

In the rare instance she stumped Ren or made him visibly confused about something, Nora would often rub it in his face and tease him lovingly about it. Now though, she felt proud of him as his visage softened and the gears in his head started to turn, trying to process what she had said. All the while, Nora noticed her hand was getting more and more tired from holding it out for him.

_He's never to hold it, is he?_ Nora thought. With a dejected sigh, she lowered her arm in defeat – or so she thought. With a squeak of surprise, she saw that, without changing expression or looking anywhere else but the ceiling, Ren was now holding her hand in his, tracing lazy patterns across the back of her thumb with his.

Nora's heart started doing flips (accompanied by her heart monitor's happy chirps) as an excited grin spread across her face, a warm, happy sigh coming from the back of her throat. She beamed at the boy she had grown to love after all these years; she didn't care if he wasn't even looking at her, Ren's thoughts were effectively communicated by this simple yet dramatic act of holding her hand in his.

"Nora?" he inquired again, likely not for the last time tonight.

"Yes, Ren?"

His head making the 90 degrees to his right to look her in the eyes, Ren treated Nora to a just-hers almost-smile, one she never saw shown towards anyone else. "What was it like when your mom was trying to get you to learn ballet?"

Not sure where the question came from but static to see where it was going, Nora giggled a little bit, thoughtful blue eyes now gracing the ceiling with their gaze. "Well, I had spent so much time with a certain adorable boy in green, so…"

* * *

><p>They went back and forth like this for ages, sharing stories and posing questions, remembering all the good that happened in their many years together. Nora liked this Ren; the calm, soft-spoken one that let her be herself without passing any judgment; the Ren who smiled at her and ignored the world around him in favor of a simple pink-crazed girl; the Ren who had only now started to hold her hand and not pull away or look closed off and unwilling to admit he enjoyed her next to him.<p>

Nora was enjoying Ren's recounting of the time they had to be in the school play (she was one of the guards to the evil king's castle, he was a bush) when she was rudely brought back to reality by the coarse throat-clearing of a nurse standing between the two beds.

"Do you mind?" the lady asked, gesturing to the space she needed to get to. Reluctantly, Ren let go of Nora's hand, letting both their arms fall to the sides of their beds. Nora let out a dissatisfied pout as the nurse made her rounds, checking the IVs and adjusting the aura-boosting medication before turning to look at Ren and Nora.

"If either of you kids need anything, I'm going to be down the hall handling some of the other patients. Just alert me using your scroll's medical buzzer, I or another nurse will be with you a few moments later. It's night out, and you both need to rest up, so I recommend starting on that right now, okay?" With that, she slid out of the room, shoes click-clacking until she was no longer in their line of sight/hearing range.

Nora _was_ starting to feel a bit drowsy; even the talkative one of the bunch needed to recuperate for the healing process to continue, and sleep would definitely help. There was only one problem as far as she was concerned.

_Separate beds…_ Nora eyed the space between her bed and Ren's with distaste, then the cast around her leg. _They said my aura was still rather low,_ Nora thought to herself. _But if I want a good night's sleep…_ She gave the leg a test move, pain shooting to her hip with a sharp intake of breath.

"Nora?" Ren had already gotten comfortable in his bed, but was not looking at Nora in concern. "Is everything alright?"

She smiled weakly. "Yeah, just, uh, you know… trying to get comfortable?" Funny, after all these years, she still had a hard time addressing her love to fall asleep in Ren's arms, even if he was fully aware of their nightly ritual.

Those pink eyes narrowed, a slight frown tugging his mouth downward. "Don't try and move your leg anymore; it's still probably tender from Roman's gun _and_ broken from the fall."

Nora didn't care; she still tried to swing her leg over, moving inch by inch and disregarding the searing pain in her calf muscles. Finally, her knee stuck over the edge awkwardly, Nora had to admit defeat. She couldn't move any more, she was starting to cramp, and walking on this leg even a step would have her on the floor in pain.

After a bit of heavy breathing and little squeaks of pain, Nora laid back in her cot, sadness obvious in her eyes. "Well… Good night Ren," she said from her short distance, not even wanting to turn on her side she was hurting so much. She could deal with it; she was strong. She and Ren weren't mad at each other anymore; she had settled her qualms with him. The important thing was that they were at least in the same room, happy to be around each other without the awkward tension of before.

She waited for Ren to say "good night" back, but didn't get a response. Likely already asleep she thought, not surprised but still miffed as she turned to look at her sleeping friend. Or at least, she thought he was asleep, but Ren never slept while looking like he was hoisting himself over the side of the bed –

"REN!" she shouted out of concern. _He shouldn't be getting out of bed! He was hurt real bad and look, he's turning red from exhaustion!_ Exertion was heavy in Ren's ragged breaths as the hunter was struggling getting one leg over the side of the bed, his bound hand and side not helping his efforts.

"What are you doing? You must have broken your ribs, you're going to hurt yourself!" While he didn't look at her and was still getting his other leg to the ground with much effort, under his continuously muttered "ows" and "ughs" she thought she heard the words "worth it". _Was he…?_

Sure enough, Lie Ren was now slowly but surely bringing himself to his feet, face scrunched up in agony, fatigue, and yet a trace of determination. Nora's heart stopped when he almost slipped, her bent up breath releasing in relief when he caught a hold of his wheeled IV stand. After a shuffle to get a hold of the tall pole and regain his balance (a scene that reminded Nora of an ice skater struggling on the rink) Ren managed to make his way to Nora's bedside, slumping over as he sat at the edge of her bed.

Nora's skin was already tingling as she anticipated the touch she had not felt for a solid four day; his hands at her waist, his arms around her, his legs betwixt hers, his chin resting comfortably on her head. But it wasn't just the touch that made her heart beat feriouciously; she was always the one to crawl into bed with him, never the other way around.

Nora immediately wrapped his neck up in her arms, wrapping one of his legs in hers (the cast being the only obstacle) and pressing into him like glue. "You're here!" she squeaked in pleasure, rubbing her nose up against his as he melted in her arms, one hand drawing down her spine, her back arching in response to his touch. The other hand found its way to the side of her face, cupping her cheek as he stared into her soft blue tones. Her breath caught in her throat, his tenderness lighting her on fire as she fought back all desire to ram her lips into his and sink into him in a wild frenzy; she wasn't risking both their injured states even for something so wonderful.

"Hi Nora," Ren said after a second, surprising her with how husky his voice sounded. She giggled back, smiling coyly as her eyes half lidded alluring. She saw him blush a little, gobbling it up while she could.

"Hya Ren!" she said enthusiastically, her fingers stroking that one streak of pink in his hair. She felt woozy just being here like this, glad to be together with her best friend like this.

Ren continued to stare at her, his eyes tracing the contours of her face before meeting her gaze once again.

"We should really start thinking about sleep."

Nora couldn't help but not care too much tapping him on the nose with a sweet "boop" before nuzzling her own against his with a warm purr. Despite his wide smile in response, Ren still held his composure.

"Nora."

_How can I argue with someone so cute_? "Nighty-night Ren," she said, scooting further down on him (taking pleasure in him stiffening up as she intentionally rubbed against him in the process), coming to a stop with her head on his heart. _Wa-thump. Wa-thump. Wa-thump._ The same steady drumming she heard all those times as a kid, the same boy she fell in love with. And here they were, together after all these hardships and curve-balls. Together, but not _together_-together… yet.

She felt her eye lids dropping heavier and heavier, a kitten-like yawn escaping her mouth. She knew she and Ren would stay friends forever, they both did; she had told him she loved him, and while he seemed alright with it, he hadn't really shared his side of the story. No matter; he'd come around soon enough, she just needed some time, a little luck, and enough prodding to get him to show his true colors.

And with that, Nora felt into a content slumber, back where she belonged in her one, true home: Ren's arms.

* * *

><p>Something made Nora jump in her sleep, awakening her with a start. She didn't move, hoping to keep Ren asleep so he'd get some rest. She hadn't heard anything, and she wasn't in pain anymore, so what was…<p>

_Oh._

Holding back a squeal, Nora's eyes traced down to the side of her face, two and two coming together as she registered what it was that she felt. Ren had adjusted himself after she fell asleep so that they were just a little closer, one arm cradling the back of her neck, the other one at the small of her waist. That was completely irrelevant, however, compared to what it was that woke her.

Ren's lips were pressed firmly on Nora's cheek, the ghost of his kiss etched there even now. Even as she stared peripherally, not daring to move lest the feeling leave, Ren smiled in his sleep and muttered her name before returning another soft peck to her cheek.

Silently cheering in her head and practically swooning, Nora planted a big, wet smooch on his own cheek, snuggling up again so both hands lay lovingly on his chest. A smile stretched farther than she thought possible even for her, Nora now had something beautiful to dream about.

_Maybe that can happen more often when we aren't sleeping,_ Nora promised blissfully to herself.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hey Readers! Hope you enjoyed the latest and second to last chapter, I'm sorry they haven't been coming out as frequently as I wished. As I wrap the story up it's a little harder to figure out what goes where and how everything falls into play in the end. Anyways, expect chapter 12 (AND a bonus surprise) to be out in a week to two, and soon after you'll get a nice little epilogue. Hope you enjoyed this latest installment, until next time!<strong>

**thehemingwaydilemma**


	13. Chapter 12: Ditching the Admendment

**Author's Note:**

**Thunder Flowers was my first chapter-based fan fiction, released shortly after my previous one-shot, "Nap Time". Since its publication on January 16****th****, 2014, this 12 chapter story has received much acclaim from my readers, bringing in 61 favorites, 104 followers, and 12,343 views total. I am still having trouble processing this achievement, and am already starting up another writing project to try out soon.**

**None of this could have happened without you guys. You found my story and gave it a read, and thankfully it tickled your taste buds enough to keep coming back for more. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all your reviews, receiving those PMs and questions, and for knowing that people were willing to get excited for something I created.**

**This is for you: the last chapter of the story. Chapter 12, the end of the road. It's a little shorter than previous chapters, but I am glad with how it flowed and I feel it is a fitting close. I will publish the epilogue to the story on its own, so keep your eyes peeled for that when it comes out. **

**Also, I have a Tumblr, " .com", which I don't normally post writing to but that could change soon, right? If you want to give me a follow, go on ahead, we can stay in tough that way. **

**I'd like to dedicate this last and final chapter to a very special person, who came into this story sometime after the sixth chapter or so. My Beta Reader JC785 has done a wonderful job reviewing chapters before publication, and who I cannot thank enough for all their help.**

**I'd also like to address Sukazu's requests for a chapter from Pyrrha's point of view by saying: These first few paragraphs are for you :D**

**Thank you all so much, it means the world to me. I had as much a blast writing this as you did reading it.**

**Keep Writing!**

**~thehemingwaydilemma**

**Chapter 12: Ditching the Amendment**

"They certainly seem to be making a swift recovery, don't they?"

Pyrrha nodded as she and Jaune both watched as Ren and Nora, accompanied by two nurses, stretched their legs out on the grass near the library. Team JNPR hadn't been the same since Nora and Ren's accident, which left Jaune and Pyrrha to work by themselves for a while. While she appreciated the time spent helping Jaune improve even more in this fighting and getting to know him better over time, she was definitely concerned about the second portion of her team and if they could get back in business soon.

"They both seem eager to get back on their feet for one thing," she remarked, grinning as Nora leaned against Ren as both of them took small, careful steps around one of the hedges, having long since abandoned their IV stands in favor of casts and Aura boosts.

"I was really worried about them," Jaune continued, directing Pyrrha's attention back to her scraggly blonde haired partner. "A fall like that would have killed anyone else, and they've been really slow to recover."

"I know," Pyrrha said, remembering the pain in Nora's screams and the desolation in Ren's eyes. But the pang of fear and remorse faded as she saw Ren pull Nora back to her feet, the Valkyrie smiling up at him. "And they shouldn't have made it."

"P-pardon?!" stammered Jaune, flabbergasted at the implications of Pyrrha's statement.

"The fall was too far, they hardly broke their fall, and even if they were alive after the impact, natural law and happenstance wouldn't have let either one make it out a live."

"Oh... so you mean there wasn't a way that they would have made it?"

"Yes Jaune, that's what I meant."

"Oh, good." Pyrrha watched as her partner thought for a moment. He finally turned his big blues in her direction, having decided on his next question. "So then, why DID they make it? If it was so impossible, I mean?"

Pyrrha smiled softly at her partner, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're truly that oblivious, aren't you?" she chided the now blushing boy. When Jaune didn't respond and instead opted to gawk at the hand gripping his shoulder, Pyrrha returned her gaze toward the two invalids and continued. "Ren and Nora are friends unlike any other I've seen. I have gotten to know both of them during this time at Beacon, seen them at their best and worst, and I don't think there's any way they would have let the other come to harm."

"So they tried to protect each other or something? Jaune inquired, shifting under Pyrrha's hand so that it fell down at her side again. Oh well, maybe next time, Pyrrha signed inwardly, not letting her resentment show - not that Captain Oblivious would pick up on it.

"I'm saying that in that hospital room were two friends who weren't going to let the other spend a day without them. That they were going to make it out alive so that the other wouldn't be lonely, and so that they wouldn't have to live knowing they couldn't spend every waking moment near their counterpart.

"Ren and Nora may be opposites, and we both know they're relationship can be more complicated than it looks, but in the end there isn't really any other way to explain that they're going to be friends for a long, long time." Across the field, the two were now on her knees at one of the flower bushes, weaving the pink petaled beauties into ringlets, Nora slipping one on each of their heads. Pyrrha couldn't help but notice Ren slip one of the circlets into his sleeves, and she suppressed a giggle as the stoic boy now seemed to be berating Nora for eating the other crown.

Jaune chortled, having also seen the two at their usual shenanigans. "I wonder, how long must it have taken the two of them to be that close of friends?"

"Just like any friendship, Jaune," she said, patting his knee reassuringly. "With a lot of trust, time, honesty, and a mutual desire for companionship."

Jaune nodded, still looking at the two as they now hobbled after the nurse to the infirmary. "It doesn't hurt that they're both in love with each other."

Pyrrha felt a flush of color rise to her cheeks, but played it off with a small nod and a cheeky smile. "Yes, Jaune, that does help make a friendship stronger, that's for certain." Picking up Milo, she hopped off the bench they had been sitting on and adjusted her uniform. "Well, I'm going to get some studying done for Professor Port's test on Beowolf pack life, I'll see you back in the dorm room."

"Actually," Jaune rose to his feet, "can I come along? I need to find a few books for Oobleck's paper on the Nevermore Wars."

"Uh, sure, come right ahead." She didn't show it, but she was glad to have Jaune around. He was the only one in the room for the most part, and the only one of their team still in all of her classes; as a result, well, she felt herself glad to see him everywhere and relieved she didn't have to be alone so often.

"Thanks Jaune, I appreciate it," Pyrrha replied, walking toward the library with a blonde boy at her side.

"You're welcome. What are friends for?"

"You're not going to forget about tonight?"

"Trust me, if anyone's going to make me a better leader, it's going to be you and your lessons. Of course I'll be there."

Pyrrha held back an impulse to hug Jaune as the two made their way to the library. _Trust, honesty, and mutual companionship... now, all we need is time._

* * *

><p>Despite the home environment and the teachings of his family, Ren wasn't one to believe in the supernatural. Demons, spirits, gods, and miraculous occurrences didn't fall into the category of "all things plausible", and by the looks of it, everything that happened or will happen had a plausible, well foreseen cause to it.<p>

A calm Nora, however, was something else entirely.

It had been a month since "the Fall", one month since they almost had a falling out in their friendship. Since that point, Ren had found himself growing closer to Nora more and more in that month, relying on the other in order to recover from their injuries. They had to rely on each other for relearning their motor skills, getting back into their usual workouts and training, and during the dark periods or loneliness they had only each other to learn on. Within that time, Ren found himself less and less paranoid about Nora's antics, and more trusting and willing to share his thoughts with her; likewise, Nora returned to her chipper state and eager talkativeness but since that first night she seemed much more content and accepting of Ren's hesitance to be, quote on quote, "together-together". Ren wasn't sure why, but she now seemed to relish whatever it was they had and didn't seem to pry him for any more than her usual routine of showering him with affection, staying by his side, and crawling in to sleep with him when the lights went out.

But the best part was, Ren no longer felt that pit of anxiety about where he and Nora were in their friendship. Her words and their near death encounter had made him rethink his view on relationships and being able to remain friends through love. It still sent shivers down his spine, thinking that he could freely admit he loved her to himself without negative connotations of crumbling relationships coming to mind.

He was happy with the way things were.

"What about that one?" Nora pointed a finger up at the sky, motioning to one of the white swirled clouds up ahead.

Ren thought a moment. "A rabbit. Or a cat, depending on how you look at it."

The two were on their backs, lying on a soft grassy hill near the library on campus. The day was winding to its end, and, per Nora's request, the two friends were staring up into the faded blue sky trying to find shapes in the clouds. It had been another rough day for the both of them, and so the time just having fun doing something so menial was almost a necessity. So far they had spotted an owl, two rabbits, a coffee mug, and approximately twenty sloths, give or take a couple warped perceptions of reality on Nora's part. With Nora, it was often hard to tell how many trains of thought she was attempting to conduct.

"Ooh! Another sloth!" It was Nora's turn to find the shapes made in the sky, and her answer (which hadn't changed in any of the times they played this game) was still, and probably always would be, a sloth.

"Nora, I still don't think that's what a sloth -" A pink clad hand clamped to his mouth told Ren that he could point out that sloths were _not_ shaped like a large lumpy oval all he wanted, and it would not change Nora's mind.

"Shhhh shh shh shhhhh!" Blue eyes sparkled mischievously, Nora's head shaking in negative. "It's a sloth, Ren, and it shall stay a sloth until it blows away, got it?"

Ren merely nodded, smiling to himself as Nora moved her hand down to his, intertwining their fingers again. She let out a contented hum, rubbing her thumb against the back of his in a way that sent shivers down his arms. She now had his pony tail in her hand, gently massaging the hair as she tickled the tip under her nose, giggling as she did so.

The lotus boy couldn't help but look at her out of the corner of his eyes, how happy she looked just to be there. He found himself once again tracing his eyes over every detail of her face, wandering down her soft frame from russet orange hair to pink high top sneakers. Nora, eyes still closed, moved a little closer to Ren, resting a head on his shoulder as she let out a soft breath. After a moment her eyes flickered open, her blue meeting his magenta.

"Hey," she said softly. He smiled back, corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly.

"Hi."

A moment of silence went on, neither one saying a thing. The quiet wasn't filled with awkward tension like in the hotel, or worry like in the hospital; it had returned to its comfy, companionable state, each enjoying the other without words needed to say anything. They didn't last long thanks to Nora, but it they were something they mutually cherished .

Nora's hand tightened its grip on Ren's, and as her legs tensed, Ren took the cue to hold on tight. In one fell swoop, Nora yanked Ren to his feet, squealing as she leapt into the air to give him a boop to the nose with her own. As he gathered up the small lunch they had packed and Nora's blanket, the soft-spoken boy thought to himself about the past month.

He had come to terms with his parent's destroyed marriage shortly after the talk with Nora; it hadn't surprised him much when a letter from home came in the mail a week ago explaining that while they had tried everything, his mother decided that enough was enough and had finally split from his father. He was actually more surprised as to how well he took the news. Sure he had been sad for them, but another part of him – the one greatly influenced by Nora Valkyrie and his time here at Beacon Academy – reassured him that his mother was happy, and that even though the marriage was in shambles both his parents were better off because of it. _Just because one relationship doesn't work, doesn't mean all relationships won't_ had become something of his mantra in this time, and a video talk with his mother proved that she had faith in him and whatever path he chose in that regard.

Which had gotten him to starting thinking about Nora again. She was always so… different from him, but in a way that complimented Ren's quiet and introspective nature without constant agitation. She had always been there for her, and he truly found more at home with her giggles and abrasive nature than he did in the quiet yet deadly atmosphere of his own home. Seeing their friendship put to the test in the past month had also shown something to Ren that he might not have picked up: had been patient with him, and she loved him regardless of what he might have felt in return.

_She had every right to try someone else or to get angry with me for being so stubborn, and she's still here,_ Ren thought, eyeing the cheery girl skipping at his side. She was his only true, long lasting friend… and maybe she was more to him than he let on.

_You can't hide this forever, you know, he_ reminded himself. _She probably knows I see her differently by now… concealing everything never worked to your advantage, it'll only harm you the long run._

The truth is, Lie Ren had always been happy with his friendship with Nora; but not quite. Maybe if things worked a _little_ bit differently from now on…

"It always looks so nice during the evening, Ren, don't you agree? It's not very pink, but the sky turns that nice shade of yellowy-fire-pink, and the clouds kind of get the shade of really dark pink, and it just looks so pretty, you know? Plus we have a really nice view from that hill, better than at the dorm room!

"Oh, and thanks for coming with me to see this and do that cloud thingy, doesn't it always seem nicer to have someone to see it with? I mean doing it alone is just fine and dandy, but with another person there makes it nicer because, well, you're enjoying something really nice together, right? Well, I mean, not _together_-together, but still it looks really –"

"Actually," Ren interrupted, causing Nora to fix her attention on him, "no."

Nora's eyes widened. "You don't like sunsets?! But –"

"Not the sunsets, Nora," Ren said, choosing his words carefully, "but 'no' to that part after it." He was hoping this plan worked; it was a little crazy, but he had made up his mind and while he practically knew the outcome, he still wanted to make sure that he executed this just right.

Nora's head cocked to the side, not understanding. "… you don't like night time? But that's when you sleep, and we all know you love to sleep –"

"I mean, I don't like what you said after really enjoying something together." Ren waited as she thought for a minute. He could tell when she understood what he was talking about, thanks to her expression freezing, eyes popping, and turning to look at him with a look of astonishment.

"N-n-not together-together?"

"That's the part I don't like, yes."

Nora had stopped skipping a long time ago; they now stood opposite each other at the side of the fountain near the library. Shyly looking at him, Nora understood what he was talking about, the color rushing to her face as she looked at him puppy-dog eyed.

"So… does that mean you want to be –?"

As he nodded his head affirmative, Ren smiled. _3-_

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

He didn't even have time to start the countdown before the shriek erupted from Nora and she tackled him in a gripping sloth hug (arms around his neck, legs around his waist) and toppled him off the path to roll down the hill. Nora's yelps and squeals of rapid-fire happiness and unintelligible babble filled his ears and heart with a searing happiness he was starting to love. Shocking himself, Nora, and anyone who was within earshot, Ren did something he hadn't done in ages.

He laughed.

To Nora, who was currently pinned beneath Ren's arms, stared up at him in shock, wonder, happiness, and probably the sweetest face he had ever seen. Ren's laugh, as she once described to him, was like music, happy notes dancing in her ears and enough to make her want to sit and listen for years. She was still gleefully laughing and yelling out happy screams of joy as she and Ren, at long last, pulled each other into the other's arms, mouths meeting in an instant.

It was funny, thinking about this first kiss. Neither had experience in this field, and yet both knew exactly what they were doing. Arcs of ecstacy shot through Ren's mouth and flooded his senses, triggering every nerve to finally know what it meant to be alive after all these years. Both sets of lips ran over the other's with fierce joy and gentle finesse, Nora's mouth opening with each stroke to breath in his ragged breaths. She tasted of vanilla and cherries, and the way her fingers slip through his hair sent his heart into tremors.

She broke the kiss with a gentle pryng, arm looped around his neck as her tongue now swirled in his mouth, flicking over teeth and around gums before coming to meet with Ren's. Sparks flew as they both jumped in surprise, before deepening their kiss with a battle of dominance pitting tongue to tongue. Nora's moan into his mouth and her tightened grip in his hair was the best feeling in the world, and he responded with a firmer grip around her waist and a soft caress to the nape of her neck.

After what seemed like ages, they finally came apart, both panting for breath and grinning like bafoons. "Aww… it's broken," said Nora, pouting playfully as she pulled Ren down on top of her, both of them chuckling as she ran her tongue lazily over his mouth, drawing him back in for more.

Releasing him again, Nora shifted so she was now cuddled into his side, her smile etched into the corner of his cheek. They both lay like this for a while, arms around the other and pressed so firmly together their heartbeats resounded side by side.

"I love you," he finally said, earning a tighter squeeze from Nora and three soft pecks to the cheek.

"I love _you_," she repeated, nose tracing gentle circles on the tip of his. Finally making eye contact, the couple stared into each other's eyes again, this time with more meaning and excitement behind the connection. Nora ran another hand through his hair, favoring the pink lock she had given him years back.

"So… we're '_together_' now?"

Ren cupped her face in his hands, grinning as her cheeks flushed and she looked away coyly. He turned her face back to his, relishing the embarrassed smile she cheekily flashed him as he planted another smooch to her forehead.

"_Together_ together."


End file.
